Chocolate Is Healthy

Raw Foods News Magazine gives a ton of information on raw chocolate and its many uses.  It describes the discovery of the cacao plant, its nutrients and enzymes.  It also discusses how to peel and eat raw cacao beans.  They can be blended into herbal teas, added to a fruit smoothie, or crushed and sprinkled over ice cream.

Here’s an excerpt of the type of health-related information it provides:

MAO Inhibitors

Cacao seems to diminish appetite, probably due to its monoamine oxidase enzyme inhibitors (MAO inhibitors) – these are different from digestive enzyme inhibitors found in most nuts and seeds. These rare MAO inhibitors actually produce favorable results when consumed by allowing more serotonin and other neurotransmitters to circulate in the brain. According to Dr. Gabriel Cousens, MAO inhibitors facilitate youthening and rejuvenation.

Raw Chocolate :: Raw Foods News Magazine* Raw Foods News * formerly www.RawFoodsNews.com :: Celebrating the raw foods lifestyle with breaking news, authoritative info and fun features.

This is not the most healthful recipe incorporating cacao nibs, but we are delighted this wonderful food appears in the September issue of Bon Appetit, as the highlight of this delicious gelato recipe.

Cacao Nib Gelato Recipe

yield: Makes about 3 1/2 cups
The ice cream custard needs to infuse with the flavor of the cacao nibs overnight, so start preparing it two days ahead.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cacao nibs*
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar

Special equipment: Ice cream maker
ombine 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, 1 cup whole milk, and 1/2 cup cacao nibs in heavy large saucepan. Scrape in seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean; add bean. Bring mixture to simmer. Remove from heat. Cover and let mixture steep 30 minutes. Uncover and return to simmer.

Whisk 5 large egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar in large heatproof bowl until mixture is pale yellow and slightly thickened. Gradually add hot cream mixture to yolk mixture, whisking until well blended. Return mixture to same saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens and coats back of spoon when finger is drawn across and instant-read thermometer inserted into custard registers 170°F, about 5 minutes (do not boil). Transfer custard to medium bowl. Cover and chill overnight. Whisk 5 large egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar in large heatproof bowl until mixture is pale yellow and slightly thickened. Gradually add hot cream mixture to yolk mixture, whisking until well blended. Return mixture to same saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens and coats back of spoon when finger is drawn across and instant-read thermometer inserted into custard registers 170°F, about 5 minutes (do not boil). Transfer custard to medium bowl. Cover and chill overnight.

Pour custard through fine strainer set over bowl; discard solids in strainer. Transfer custard to ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer gelato to freezer container. Cover and freeze until ice cream is firm, at least 8 hours or overnight. do ahead Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep frozen.

* Bits of shell-roasted cacao beans; available at many specialty foods stores and from chocosphere.com.
Cacao Nib Gelato Recipe at Epicurious.com.

As we repeatedly profess, raw, organic chocolate is the healthiest and most nutritionally-rich form of chocolate. Other types of chocolate?  Well, let’s just say the benefits take the form of satisfaction and taste, rather than health value.

With so many other types of chocolate appearing on supermarket shelves, here’s an overview of chocolates and their uses.  In general, the less processed the chocolate is, the more nutrition it contains. read more »

Once you understand the differences between processed and unprocessed chocolate, you’ll know  how to reap the profound health benefits of this mineral-rich  pod from the cacao tree. read more »

Julie Pech ate chocolate every day for 18 months, all in the name of health research. She compared brands, one after another, as many varieties and brands from around the world as possible. She stocked her Littleton home with high-octane chocolate, up to 50 pounds stashed in cupboards: cacao beans and cocoa nibs–raw-chocolate chips–Ghirardelli and Dagoba and Valor, always testing and tasting. Now she’s a self-described chocolate therapist, dispensing recommendations on how chocolate can help a variety of ills through her book, The Chocolate Therapist: A User’s Guide to the Extraordinary Health Benefits of Chocolate (Trafford Publishing)

… Trend-watchers are focused on the healing powers of chocolate, according to a market research report on the premium chocolate industry released in March … These experts predict the next big growth area will be cocoa and drinking chocolate. And why not? A mug of natural cocoa has nearly twice the antioxidants of a glass of red wine, two to three times more than green tea, and up to five times that of black tea … but, like good and bad cholesterol, there’s good and bad chocolate. The nutritional value is in the cocoa, so the healthy stuff is dark chocolate with a minimum of 50 percent cocoa solids …

Her [Pech] mission, she says, is education. “I’m not saying eat chocolate cake, candy bars and cookies, pigging out on chocolate all day long,” she says. “You have to control it. One good thing about eating quality chocolate, when you eat the good stuff you don’t need a lot of it to satisfy your craving.”

–Colleen O’Connor, Denver Post 05/26/2007