Chocolate Is Healthy

Despite being geared toward the Western U.S., we love reading Sunset for its food and decorating ideas.  In the January issue, they called out a number of healthy dark chocolate products, some of which were new to us.

Utah’s Amano Artisan Chocolate makes award-winning, single varietal handmade chocolate bars incorporate carefully sourced beans from Venezuela, Madagascar, Ecuador, Bali, Ghana and beyond.  They also sell hand roasted cocoa nibs and bulk chocolate.

Claudio Corallo cultivates a cacao plantation on the African island of Principe, a biologically-rich island with world-reknown cacao.  His offers complex bars, some with flavors like orange and ginger, as well as whole roasted cacao beans that have a delicious nutty texture.

We also learned about Portland, OR based Sip to Live, a shop with unique blends of organic teas based on ayurvedic principles.  Each blend helps to serve and refresh different areas of the body.  For example The Cool-Out, with its blend of chamomile, cherry bark and other herbs is made to soothe the nerves.

While there is an increasing number of vegan and fair trade chocolatiers, there are fewer making raw chocolate bars.   It’s an expensive and labor intensive process that leads to very high price tags.

The Village Voice profiled two relatively new raw chocolate bars, both based in Brooklyn, New York.  One is “Bean to Bar” by Jacques Torres.  The other is the lesser-known Mast Brothers who make gorgeously-packaged from-scratch artisan chocolate bars.  We are delighted that attention is being given to the nuances as raw chocolate.  Just as there is tremendous variety within processed dark chocolate bars, raw chocolate bars can vary significantly in flavor and depth.

Here’s where the article netted out:

“Both bars, in other words, offered completely different experiences, and beauty that was very much in the eye of the beholder. The Masts and Torres are doing excellent work, so calling one better than the other based solely upon taste does a disservice both to them and to the highly subjective reactions that chocolate inspires. If you want a more bitter, idiosyncratic bar, you want the Masts. If you want a smoother, more comforting bar, then go for the Torres.”

Battle of the Dishes: Bean to Bar Chocolate Bars From Jacques Torres and Mast Brothers – New York Restaurants and Dining – Fork in the Road.

It’s never too early to think about holiday gift giving. Healthy raw chocolate bars, with their organic ingredients and gorgeous packaging, are great for sharing with loved ones.

We’ll continue to provide you with chocolate gift ideas over the coming weeks.   Why? Because they’re delicious, easy to send, and gift recipients won’t believe they’re healthy!

We came across this Pomegranate Acai Bar made by Gnosis Chocolate. It features 100% organic raw ingredients, so you won’t find any refined sugar, dairy, soy, cholesterol or gluten in their products. In this delicious combination, you’ll have the deep satisfaction and therapeutic value of raw, dark chocolate PLUS massive antioxidants from the acai and pomegranate.

Pomegranate Acai Bar.

Cool Hunting had this sweet interview with Brooklyn-based artisanal chocolate company Fine & Raw.  Fortunately for us, we’re also located in Brooklyn, and will be trying some asap.

Along with having top-quality, conscious ingredients, they use low heat techniques to preserve chocolate’s wonderful raw flavor.  Made in small batches, their ingredients include heirloom raw cacao, raw blue agave nectar, cold-pressed coconut oil and Himalayan sea salt.

They sell raw chocolate bars in flavors including raspberry and lucuma & vanilla, as well as their signature bonbons. Fine & Raw gourmet chocolate products feature packaging by local designers.  And great chocolate gifts!

Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

CH: Can you elaborate a little on the benefits of raw chocolate?
DS: Scientific studies have shown that raw cacao is the number one food source of magnesium and antioxidants. Raw cacao has up to five times more antioxidants than regular dark chocolate. Over 300 other elements have been found in cacao. Among them are phenylethylamine (which scientists believe is released when you are in love or at the very least releases endorphins in the brain and produces a mild feeling of euphoria); tryptophan (the precursor to serotonin), theobromine and anandamine (the bliss chemical). Other benefits worth mentioning are the aphrodisiac and appetite suppressant qualities.

CH: Is there a raw chocolate movement developing?
DS: Yes, it’s grass roots right now. Raw chocolate was only introduced to the public relatively recently. It’s taken time to reach the culinary world. But the culinary scope and nutritional benefits are compelling more people to become interested in it.

Fine & Raw Chocolate.