Just a few weeks ago, I was telling you all the benefits of dark chocolate and trying to convert all of you to eating dark chocolate from now on. I must add a warning with that post because I had a taste of a 100% Cacao raw chocolate and it was not what I expected.
As you know I LOVE dark chocolate so one of my friends bought this chocolate for me from a health food store. You can see the packing looks great like any normal chocolate but this one is made from predominately Cacao not Cocoa.
Did you know that Cacao is actually a super food? Not cocoa but Cacao; this tasty little bean is full of the good stuff. Cacao is derived from Theobroma Cacao beans, which literally means “Food of the Gods”. Cacao contains over 300 compounds including protein, fat, carbohydrates, fibre, iron, zinc, copper, calcium and magnesium. Magnesium helps to build strong bones and is a muscle relaxant associated with feelings of calmness. Cacao is also high in sulphur, which helps form strong nails and hair.
The difference between the two is something I never considered before. Cacao refers to the raw form of chocolate, including the tree and bean. Raw cacao powder is not roasted, relatively unprocessed, and contains no sugar or cocoa butter and so retains more of its natural nutrients. Cocoa is the Anglicized version of the word “cacao.” Cocoa powder has been roasted, ground, and sometimes mixed with a sweetener and cocoa butter. Most chocolate today is loaded with sugars, dairy products, sodium, stabilizers, emulsifiers, preservatives, and more.
Knowing all this fact, I thought I would love this chocolate. I had a piece and it is too bitter and too bland to my liking. It would be great if you were after a 100% no artificial ingredient chocolate bar but I have to tell you that it tastes nothing like the chocolate we know. For me it was one of the worst chocolates I have ever tasted.
As you can see in the packing, it says No sugar and 5.0 g fat per serve which means I know it will be great for my body but my mouth wouldn’t allowed me to have another piece.
Just to check how everyone would react, I gave the chocolates to my colleagues, AS and his cousin. All of them agreed with me that they would never eat this chocolate again. Anyway, if you can eat it I am sure it is great for you as raw Cacao bars are filled with nutrients and natural ingredients your body will benefit from.
We were joking that this is the chocolate we should introduce to our kids for the first time. Either they will love it and have all the health benefits or they will never eat chocolates again. 🙂
Just some quick steps on how cocoa bean becomes a chocolate bar
- It takes six months for cocoa beans to ripen. Harvests take place twice a year
- The beans, which are covered in a white pulp, are removed from the pods
- Beans are put in large heaps and covered up to ferment. This takes about a week. and is when the cocoa flavour starts to develop
- Beans are then dried for a week then taken to the chocolate factory
- They are then roasted, and separated from their shells in hulling machines
- The insides of the bean, called nibs, are turned into a liquid or chocolate liquor
- The chocolate liquor is blended with cocoa butter, and other ingredients and stirred for several hours
- The resulting thick mixture comes out and is poured into bar-shaped containers
- The bars are now ready to be packaged and eaten, about four days after the cocoa beans reached the factory
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