Cocoa butter, the fat used in chocolate, melts at approximately 34 °C.
This melting range is close to human body temperature, which helps explain why chocolate can feel solid at room temperature but melt smoothly in the mouth. Cocoa butter is extracted from cocoa beans and is a major ingredient in many milk and dark chocolates. White chocolate contains cocoa butter but no cocoa solids.
Chocolate makers carefully control cocoa butter’s crystal forms through tempering. Tempering involves heating, cooling, and reheating chocolate within controlled ranges so the desired stable crystals form. Properly tempered chocolate has a glossy surface, a firm snap, and good resistance to fat bloom.
The exact melting behavior is a range rather than one perfectly fixed temperature, because cocoa butter contains several triglycerides and chocolate recipes include other ingredients. Therefore, “about 34 °C” is an approximate characteristic value, not a universal laboratory reading for every chocolate product.