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.

This lovely recipe by Patricia Biesen for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars is free of dairy, wheat, eggs, soy and peanuts and would be a hit at any vegan or non-vegan Thanksgiving celebration.  It’s just as easy to make as any homemade brownie recipe and we love the combination of pumpkin and chocolate.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

Ingredients:

2 cups garbanzo bean flour

1 TBS pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp baking soda

2/3 cup of coconut oil (walnut or canola oil works well too)

1 ¼ sugar

1 TBS flax seed meal

3 TBS water

2 TBS vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 12-oz bag of vegan (dairy-free) chocolate chips

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 9 x 13″ pan with foil and leave an overhang of foil on the sides.

In one big bowl whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In an even bigger bowl, mix oil and sugar, then add the vanilla, water, flax seed and pumpkin puree. Add in the flour mixture and chips.

Spread evenly in your lined pan. Bake until sides are slightly golden. Approximately, 40 minutes to an hour depending on your oven. You want to see if you can pull a clean toothpick from the center.

Cool in pan completely and lift using the overhang of foil. Cut and serve.

Photos and more after the jump!

Thanksgiving, holiday, chocolate, vegan, chocolate, lactose intolerant, pumpkin – Chicago Eats Allergy-Free.

You’ve probably come across various ways to consume raw chocolate. Most common are cacao nibs and raw chocolate bars. But have you tried raw chocolate powder?

Many people aren’t quite sure what to do with raw chocolate powder but it’s an incredibly versatile ingredient. It’s made from raw chocolate, and because of this, it doesn’t contain high levels of caffeine you find in processed chocolate powder. It’s typically vegan-friendly and organic, and a great source of minerals such as magnesium, copper, and calcium.  It’s also rich in antioxidants.

Raw chocolate powder should have a rich, smooth effect on any recipe. You can mix raw chocolate powder into smoothies, yogurt or ice cream. Use it to make a raw chocolate (or non-raw chocolate) cake, or raw chocolate bars
or truffles.

Look for raw chocolate powder made with premium cacao beans and grown with sustainable farming methods. You can buy raw chocolate powder in 1lb and 5lb bags at your local health food grocery store, or check out
Navitas Naturals Cacao Power Raw Powder at this online health food sellers.

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.