Chocolate

I have been making a concerted effort to incorporate more chocolate into my diet. Yes, you read that right. But perhaps I should use the more specific term cacao, because what I'm referring to here is the pure ingredient, not the sugar-lined candy. I love chocolate; who doesn't? But while the cacao makes me feel awesome, the sugar tends to weaken my immune system and causes my heart to race. So I've embarked on a mission to create chocolate delicacies sans sugar. I now realize that not only is it much healthier this way, but I actually adore the taste of bitter chocolate. 

As you may know, cacao is a very nutritious food when minimally processed. 2.5 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (such as Navitas Naturals, one I've tried and can vouch for) contain: 3 grams protein, 23% RDI magnesium, 7% potassium, 8% iron, as well as trace amounts of calcium, copper, selenium, manganese, zinc, vitamins E, K, several Bs, and choline. Most of us don't get enough magnesium in our diets, so cacao can be very helpful in that respect. Then there are the oft-touted antioxidants in the form of flavonoids called catechins and epicatechins that help lower blood pressure and prevent systemic inflammation. These compounds are also found in other foods, such as green tea and red wine, but are particularly concentrated in pure cacao. 

Aztec woman mixing cacao drink

The cultivation of cacao in its native Mesoamerica may date back as far as 1900 BCE. There is evidence that it was used to create a kind fermented alcoholic beverage, and was also employed ritualistically, medicinally (it was thought to be an aphrodisiac), and as a currency. The Mayans identified cacao with the rain god Kon, and consumed it in the form of a thick, hot, foamy drink made spicy with chili peppers. Much later, around 1400 CE, the Aztecs (who associated cacao with the god Quetzacoatl) were making a similar beverage. Unlike the Mayans, they drank their concoction cold. Not until the 16th century had any European tasted chocolate... and so you see, only in recent history has cacao had anything to do with sugar. Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquistadors brought it back to the old world, where it quickly became both sweetened and wildly popular. Even the origins of the word "chocolate" can be traced back to the Aztec "xocoatl", the name of their bitter foamy drink. Theobroma cacao, the Latin name for the cacao tree, means "food of the gods." By the mid-1800s, food scientists in Europe had figured out how to process cacao into its modern form: the chocolate bar.  

I've experimented with raw cacao powder and have come up with many delicious and healthy ways to partake. Here are two.

Coconut Hot Chocolate

1 heaping teaspoon coconut oil

1 ounce coconut milk

2 tablespoons cacao powder

Dash of cinnamon 

Sprinkle of cayenne 

Boiling water

Combine coconut milk and dry ingredients in a cup; stir well. Add coconut oil and mix vigorously until the texture is smooth. Then fill the cup with hot water, bit by bit, stirring as you go so as to prevent globbing. Enjoy HOT! 

Chocolate Truffles
1 egg raw yolk
1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon cacao powder

Combine ingredients and, if necessary, add more cacao until consistency is easily molded and holds its shape. Then you can do whatever you want with it in terms of flavors. (Refrigerate your finished creations prior to eating, since they contain the egg yolk). Below are three of my recent versions: the first has orange peels and clove powder, the second is sprinkled with cayenne pepper and topped with a dehydrated raspberry (grown and harvested by me own mum, I might add!), and the third has cardamom kneaded in and is garnished with toasted sesame seeds and Hawaiian red salt. The possibilities are endless. Go wild.