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.

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.

There’s an excellent post over at Raw Epicurean about our favorite subject, raw cacao.  It’s a very straightforward introduction to cacao, where it comes from, how it’s processed and what it tastes like.  It also provides an overview of the nutritional value of cacao, without getting too scientific on us.

Even more exciting, they have a contest going on this month where you can win cacao products, so check it out!

She also provides this great recipe for chocolate sauce:

Chocolate Sauce

Make this sauce ahead; keep refrigerated up to two weeks.

1/2 cup cacao nibs powder
1/2 cup agave, or sweetener of choice [adjust amount as needed]
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoons organic vanilla extract

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor until smooth.

Makes 3/4 cups

Cacao :: Herb of the Month : Raw Epicurean.

We found this killer list of delicious chocolate gifts including bars, truffles and even chocolate spa treatments.   While we can’t say that every item on this list is healthy, there are some wonderful options either on their own or to create a chocolate gift basket.

Here are a couple of our healthier chocolate favorites:

Alter Eco Dark Cacao Chocolate

“Alter-Eco is a San Francisco based gourmet food company that offers a full line of Fair Trade gourmet chocolate. The ingredients used in the chocolates are sourced from marginalized farming cooperatives in the global south – providing fair wages, direct trade and funding for community development, scholarships, women’s empowerment programs and more. The company offers a unique variety of chocolate bars crafted with passion by a master chocolatier in Switzerland from all natural ingredients and Fair Trade Certified ingredients. Alter-Eco’s Dark Cacao Chocolate blends a fine dark chocolate (73% cocoa) with crunchy nibs of roasted Organic cacao beans—the perfect balance of bitter and sweet! The chocolate is both Fair Trade Certified and USDA certified organic. To make this chocolate, Alter-Eco uses the finest ingredients harvested by the members of the El Ceibo cooperative located in the heart of the Bolivian Amazon who use sustainable farming methods that preserve the local agricultural biodiversity. www.altereco-usa.com

Navitas Naturals Make-Your-Own Organic Chocolate Superfood Kits

Navitas Naturals is making it easy for people to bring home the art of chocolate making with their innovative new Organic Superfood Chocolate Kits. Available in three delicious organic superfood varieties – Goji Berry, Cacao Nib and Goldenberry. Each fun and unique Kit creates 12 organic chocolates. Navitas Naturals Organic Superfood Chocolate Kits are full of healthy antioxidants, and these treats can be prepared in just minutes. In addition to the Kit ingredients, the only other items needed to complete the easy recipe are a knife, a small bowl, a large bowl and an ice cube tray. Each Organic Superfood Chocolate Kit contains raw: organic cacao butter, organic cacao powder, organic mesquite, organic lucuma, organic maca and the specific organic superfood which is featured in the chewy center of the chocolates (Goji Berry, Cacao nib, or Goldenberry).”

Chocolate Gifts – Chocolate Gift Guide for 2009.

Vegan food blog Cruelty Free Kitchen shares two wonderful cookie recipes, 100% vegan, that incorporate cacao nibs.  If you haven’t heard us go on about cacao nibs before, here’s the scoop: One of the best ways to consume organic raw cacao is in the form of cacao nibs. Similar to chocolate chips, they are great as an addition to trail mix, yogurt or blended into a chocolate shake. They are unroasted and often unsweetened but taste like true chocolate.  And perfect, we’ve learned, to add to cookies. read more »