Cacao - how to eat it?

[JoyfulSoul]

So my NFL cacao nibs arrived yesterday. I was excited as I had heard all the great stories about it. I ripped it open, took a handful, and munched. A bit of a surprise when it wasn't exactly "chocolate" :cool:

What is a good way to eat cacao nibs?

[rawstrawberry]

Try mixing it with some coconut and dates in the food processor. Yum!!

Raw Strawberry

[rawstrawberry]

Chilled Raw Chocolate Fudge GreenChefs

In either a powerful blender or food processor, blend the cocoa beans until it becomes a soft fine powder.

Usually about 1-2 minutes. Then add to the blender the rest of the ingredients. Blend until it is well mixed like a thick cake batter.

Then pour the batter into a square cake pan (preferably glass). At this point you may wish to stir in additions to it like walnuts, dried fruits like cherries or mangos or dried coconut. Then cover it and put it in the freazer for about an hour to set.

Remove it from the freezer making sure it has been in long enough to become firm and hard. Cut it up into squares or any shape you wish. Transfer the pieces to a serving plate. They are now ready to indulge.

You can keep the plate in the freezer or the fridge depending on how hard you like it. I usually keep in the fridge. But it does need to stay cool or it will melt very quickly. Within about 20 minutes at room tempurture.

You could also use carob powder instead of the cocoa, but I haven't tried it. I like cocoa way better. You would need less sweetner though with carob because it is not bitter like cocoa is.

This healthy treat is very versatile with different ingredients and measurements. Play around with it. You may prefer to try other butters with it like cashew or macadamia nut. Or leave out the coconut if you don't like the subtle coconut flavor. However I find the addition of the coconut butter to make it far lighter and creamier.

This recipe can also be adapted using less expensive ingredients like regular cocoa powder.

1/3-1/2 Cup
Raw Cocoa Beans (to taste)

1 Cup
Raw Almond Butter

4 Tablespoons
Virgin Coconut Butter

1/4-1/2 Cup
Agave Syrup (to taste)

1 teaspoon
Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Seeds

1/4 teaspoon (Optional)
Sea Salt

Reccommended Supplies:

Coconut Oil | Agave Syrup | Almond Butter | Raw Cocoa Nibs | Alt. Raw Carob Powder | Vanilla Bean

[Sheryl]

I like splitting a dried fig in half, stuffing it with cacao nibs and eating it straight. It's delicious sweet and chocolately! Once you get used to it straigh cacao nibs are delicious too. You can also do banana smoothies with cacao and carob. For some reason a blend of raw carob and cacao tastes more chocolatey. I think because it replicates the flavour better. If you try to add enough cacao to smoothies to make them look chocolate it's too much - it's very strong.

Prepared chocolate has cacao, fat (milk, cacao butter, hydrogenated oils) and sugar (white sugar, corn syrup) to make the sweet creamy chocolate most of us love. To do raw chocolate you just need to combine with something to sweeten it (dried fruit, agave, honey etc) and something rich (macadamias, cashews, coconut oil, cocao butter). A pinch of sea salt helps too. We've literally almost replicated chocolate bars using the cacao butter... forgot to write down the recipe though. It was from cacao butter, ground cacao, agave, coconut oil and sea salt. I think a ground vanilla bean next time would be delicious!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[JoyfulSoul]

Thanks everyone. I'll have to try this. I've been filling a small container with nibs and agave nectar. The agave helps me to get past the bitter taste I find.

[GreenMonkey]

Here is the link to the recipe with photos

http://greenchefs.tv/indulge/Chocolate-Fudge-raw

[JoyfulSoul]

I noticed the recipe calls for Cocoa. Is that the same as Cacao??

[jorjeni]

How would I alt Carbo powder with this ?? I don't have any raw but I have some roasted to use until I can buy raw.

[jaurequi]

JoyfulSoul, you can make chocolate "milk" with it.
Grind and use as cocoa.
Use in cookies, crackers, bars, cakes.

[JoyfulSoul]

Ah, I see. It has the same properties as cocoa then?