Do you think raw chocolate will ever be as affordable as heated chocolate?

[muse]

I was looking at a raw goji chocolate bar online last night and ready to buy but the price ($5 for 1 oz) made me change my mind.

I got to wondering, will raw chocolate items ever be as cheap as their cooked counterparts?

I could make my own chocolate for sure, I have all the necessary items but I really enjoy the already-made raw chocolates I can buy (and I do buy them!) But the price is steep, imo.

What do you think?

[Veganforlife]

For health purposes and satisfying that once in a while chocolate craving I get, no, I don't think it's expensive. Since incorporating Green Smoothies, my chocolate cravings have just about gone. And I was a HUGE chocolate addict. I mean when I saw the big cans of Hershey's in Sam's Club years ago? I told my daughter to hook me up to an I.V.
When I make a chocolate treat, I'll make a yummy one and eat it every once in a while.
So nope, when it comes to eating healthy, I don't think it's too expensive at all. I don't buy the pre-made jobbies. To me THEY are way overpriced. With the exception of the Truffles that Alissa sells on her site. I can't quite come up with that recipe, so I do indulge in them every few months.

[eatyourbroccoli]

I was looking at a raw goji chocolate bar online last night and ready to buy but the price ($5 for 1 oz) made me change my mind.

I got to wondering, will raw chocolate items ever be as cheap as their cooked counterparts?

I could make my own chocolate for sure, I have all the necessary items but I really enjoy the already-made raw chocolates I can buy (and I do buy them!) But the price is steep, imo.

What do you think?

SAD chocolate can afford to be cheap because the top execs own stock in the pharmaceutical companies created to fix the damage done by the SAD chocolate..

and we all know what a booming business medicine is in the States

i look at the higher expense of raw food as a few extra dollars to purchase honesty, integrity, health, and most of all..life. id rather spend more money on raw organic food if itll prevent me from spending money on medical bills. great trade-off, imo.

[barose]

My cooked chocolate was pretty expensive too. I only ate organic, dark chocolate, with "clean" ingredients so it wasn’t cheap. So the difference was $4 for a 5 oz bar of imported, organic, dark, small company chocolate as opposed to $.60 for Hershey.

Since I don’t eat as much raw chocolate as I did cooked, the price difference isn’t so bad.

[Shirleyh]

Processed chocolate has alot machines to cheapen it.
Raw chocolate isnt processed.

You would have to make your own.
I think if you find a raw food restaurant, you will find a reasonable price for raw chocolate.

[LightLover]

The cooked chocolate below costs 2.50 euro for 20 gramms..

( = 0.7 oz)

It's very good, but to much money for it.
So let this be a relief...:D

http://www.seventypercent.com/chocop/bar_detail.asp?ID=213


LL

[LightLover]

oh, in the link I mentioned you can read this chocolate is described as following:



"Madagascar is truly a beautiful young virgin bride in her wedding dress"

I did find it very good, but didn't taste the same as in the description :p
LL

[muse]

i look at the higher expense of raw food as a few extra dollars to purchase honesty, integrity, health, and most of all..life. id rather spend more money on raw organic food if itll prevent me from spending money on medical bills. great trade-off, imo.

Is raw food a 'higher expense' than SAD?

Or are you talking about raw chocolate?

[muse]

My cooked chocolate was pretty expensive too. I only ate organic, dark chocolate, with "clean" ingredients so it wasn’t cheap. So the difference was $4 for a 5 oz bar of imported, organic, dark, small company chocolate as opposed to $.60 for Hershey.


I, too, ate the 'good stuff' wrt to chocolate. Hershey always was, as my friend put it, 'smells like sick, tastes like sick'.:)

But, no doubt, part of the high cost of raw chocolate products is paying for the air travel to import cacao beans, butter? Like Gojis (possibly going to be banned in the UK, btw) and the rest of these 'exotic' foods which have been introduced into the Western markets?

[LovingLife]

If you do end up making your own raw chocolate creations, the least expensive source for raw cacao is on amazon.com (Navitas Naturals -- http://www.amazon.com/Navitas-Naturals-Organic-Chocolate-16-Ounce/dp/B000P24HJ8/ref=sr_1_2/002-0033553-8883252?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1180044109&sr=8-2 ) -- you get twice as much (2 lb) as you'd get with Nature's First Law and you get free shipping for two pounds instead of paying $8+ for one. So glad I found this source because I love making fudge, pudding, rocky road "ice cream", etc!

[Gwena]

As someone who has a raw chocolate business, I hate to put this energy out there, but I doubt it will ever be as profitable as the cooked stuff. I must also share that I think this is a good thing.

If raw chocolate ever got massed produced like the cooked version it would end up losing it's value as all mass produced products do. Raw chocolate is a very special product and, in my mind, should be savored. As raw foodies, we're darn lucky to have the 2nd most loved product in the world in raw form. Imagine a life without chocolate! Yikes:eek: Thank the cacao gods that we can still partake in such a lovely food.:p

The prices are getting better though. We just switched to a wonderful new wholeseller that we actually got to meet at the humungo Chicago Green Fest. The family grows their own cacao beans and they are cool folks to boot. We were able to greatly lower the price from 10 bucks on our chocolate cherry bar to 8 bucks. 2.5 ounces of raw chocolate candy for 8 bucks is a pretty good deal. This is a HUGE discount in the foodie business.

With that said, prices will go down over the years, but they will NEVER (again in my mind) compare to the price of mass produced chocolate. For quality's sake, I think it should remain this way.:)

[LovingLife]

Gwena -- I think you're right -- if it ever did get as popular or affordable as heated chocolate, more people would stick their noses into how it's made and might make new regulations for it, take away the purity, etc.

Ever since I've started to eat healthier (even before raw), I've found that if I'm buying more expensive food, I eat less of it and am healthier from that too because I mentally can't handle spending way too much even if I could afford it. Plus higher quality food satisfies me more so I don't want as much.

[muse]

Thank you, LovingLife for that retailer! They sell a lot of great products, I will be buying from them.

Gwena, you bring up great points, too, and I hope my question hasn't communicated that I think raw cacao isn't valuable. It is a fantastic option for raw foodists and I'm excited about it (I mostly use the raw cocoa butter and carob).

But I still think I must be paying for the cost to import these foods into the U.S./UK. I cannot imagine most retailers are growing cacao in their back gardens, or goji berries, for that matter! Like the UK is going to have 'carbon foot' on packaging, so consumers can purchase items with the smallest carbon foot, I think raw cacao and other exotic foods have big carbon feet to import. And that cost is passed onto the buyer.

[trinity082482]

it is expensive but cooked chocolate can be too.. and not the Aero bars you can get on the shelf.. I mean good lindt 70% cocoa chocolate bars. Many can run you $12 + for a bar :(

[LightLover]

it is expensive but cooked chocolate can be too.. and not the Aero bars you can get on the shelf.. I mean good lindt 70% cocoa chocolate bars. Many can run you $12 + for a bar :(


See link below: Excellend Lindt Chocolate (75%) for $1.99 ;)

LL
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http://www.seventypercent.com/chocop/bar_detail.asp
------

[LightLover]

Sorry previous link was wrong;

see link below: excellent chocolate for maybe 3 usd:

http://www.ciao.fr/Lindt_Excellence_Ecuador__206412



LL

[trinity082482]

See link below: Excellend Lindt Chocolate (75%) for $1.99 ;)

LL
----

http://www.seventypercent.com/chocop/bar_detail.asp
------


$1.99? Wow. I can barely find a chocolate bar for that lol. An Aero bar is 1.49 here. Geez. But I am from Canada.. so I dunno. Maybe I gotta move to a more chocolate friendly country hahahaha!!!

[LightLover]

$1.99? Wow. I can barely find a chocolate bar for that lol. An Aero bar is 1.49 here. Geez. But I am from Canada.. so I dunno. Maybe I gotta move to a more chocolate friendly country hahahaha!!!



this is the good link trinity, the other was wrong:


see link below: excellent chocolate for maybe 3 usd:

http://www.ciao.fr/Lindt_Excellence_Ecuador__206412

LL

[trinity082482]

Aww.. :( now I want chocolate

[LightLover]

:o :o

ll

[honeybee joy]

I thought I read or heard somewhere that David Wolfe said that his chocolate bars were going to be in some health food stores in the near future. So if they are going to be in stores, the prices might drop, but I can't see them being any cheaper then the other cooked chocolate bars there.

I think unless the whole world started eating raw, and the prices lowered because of high demand, that they would be more expensive then a hershey bar.

[stasher]

Hi Gwena,
I looked on your website, www.honeychildchocolates.com, and ordered some chocolate...I can't wait (they look so amazing):) !! How long does it take to ship?

Thanks!
Shelly

[LightLover]

Aww.. :( now I want chocolate

You are allowed to eat a watermelon. :D

ll

[SmilingRawDancer]

I'm not picky when it comes to chocolate....just some coconut, banana and cacao powder blended satisfies that need :)

[trinity082482]

You are allowed to eat a watermelon. :D

ll


He he he!! Indeed! :D

[trinity082482]

honeychild chocolates look amazing! way too expensive for me though. I cant pay 8.00 for less than 2 ounces of chocolate lol I could eat 2 ounces of chocolate in less than 10 mins hehe