raw chocolate

[sport]

I have raw chocolate powder and I also have raw cocoa nibs.
Can anyone tell me if one is just the other crushed up or is there a differance.
I have used the nibs once to make icecream but they remained hard and I ended up spitting them out and eating around them. I use the powder in icecream and find it ok.
If I crush the nibs will I just have more powder.

[RawChicky]

the raw powder is just the nibs ground up

[rawpriestess]

cacao nibs are the actual part of the cacao bean


the chocolate powder has alkalai in it and lecithin, and has been ground

they are two entirely different things.

[Sheryl]

The powder is actually lower fat. They press the nibs/beans and remove a good part of the cacao butter. The lower fat % makes it easier to grind into a powder. So with the powder you use less, since it has a more concentrated chocolate flavour.

I've had the same experience with nibs... they really don't grind that well. Pre-grinding in a coffee grinder is a good idea.

Cheers,
Sheryl

[rawpriestess]

Oh, thank you Sheryl, as always you are a wealth of information!!!!



YOU RAWK!!!

[sport]

So with the powder you use less, since it has a more concentrated chocolate flavour.
Sheryl
That is disapointing because if I had known I would not have bothered to buy the nibs and just bought extra powder. I will know better next time.

[Sheryl]

The nibs do soften fairly easily in most recipes and make great chocolate chips. That's how I tend to use them. I posted a recipe called something like Goji Berry White Chocolate ages ago that use them whole that people have loved! Try them whole in recipes, or in trail mixes. They do work well. Many who are buying raw chocolate products for recipes do find the powder works best.

Cheers,
Sheryl

[sport]

I have been meaning to make the gogi berry recepie so maybe I will do it soon.
Thanks

[juliebove]

I have the beans. If I grind these up, will I get nibs? My health food store now has the nibs. They didn't when I bought the beans. The guy there told me what to do with the beans, but I promptly forgot what he said. :rolleyes:

[startootsie]

You can grinde them into powder! That is what I do, with cacao nibs and/or beans.

[juliebove]

You can grinde them into powder! That is what I do, with cacao nibs and/or beans.

So then I will have raw cocoa powder if I grind up the beans? Or nibs if I don't grind it until I get powder? But more likely I will get powder because I have a tendency to overdo things.

[Sheryl]

When you grind nibs and beans you get more like ground coffee.. it never really goes that smooth. Freezing it first helps.

Cheers,
Sheryl

[startootsie]

You have to grinde the nibs or beans very well, and do small batches to get them really fine. But I trust them more then cacao powder you buy in the store!