Is Chocolate a trigger food for you? Do you fear it? Do you restrict it?
It always was for me!
Throughout my journey I started to find alternatives too some classic foods that i deemed as 'unhealthy'. Chcolate bein one of those.
On the food and body freedom journey, chcolate isn't to be feared, however, whilst finding 'heathier' options, i dove in to the world of raw and ceremonial grade cacao and it changed my relationship with chocolate forever.
The truth is, these days, I eat chcolate for breakfast, as a snack, as a bed time elexir and even as a medicine. When i descovered true chocolate, I didnt feel the urge to binge or restrict because I began to understand the medicinal effects of the 'food of the God's'.
Raw chcolate and ceremonial grade chcolate is bitter, not sweet like your average dairy milk. My body now craves the medicine of the bitterness and when Itaste processed chcolate, my mouth goes furry and I can notice how synthetic it tastes. Most similar in taste to a 80%+ cocoa dark chocolate, it can be bitter and potent - and many people report so many report that swapping to this type of chocolate, people are able to create a good relationship around chocolate, without feeling like they over indulge.
The name is misleading, as to get true 'raw' chocolate is difficult. The term raw is usually used to describe foods not heated above a certain temperature, usually between 42-26 degrees centigrade. This is usually because on heating foods, some of the nutrients are lost and therefore in order to avoid the loss of nutrients, food is not heated above this temperature.
However, chocolate even in its purest form, and even ceremonial, usually has to go through some sort of process, even if vey gentle to separate the components from the beans and therefore we cant achieve fully raw chocolate, but we can try!
I am a big lover of raw chocolate and its benefits - I use it regularly, and I also hold cacao ceremonies. This is a plant of true power, and one that gets missed regularly and the form we usually find it in takes away the spirit of the plant and its potency.
Shop bought chocolate has usually gone through and rigorous processing method of heat, the addition of refined sugars and emulsifiers.
If you haven't tried raw chocolate, been to a cacao ceremony, I believe it is truely healing in this journey.
When you meet a food and allow your self to imerse in its medicinal properties and you can notice the effects in your body, how it makes you feell, it truely does give a whole new experience.
INGREDIENTS
25g raw cacao butter
75g raw cocoa powder
1-2 tbsp raw honey/maple syrup/brown rice syrup
1/8 of a vanilla (optional)
pinch of sea salt
METHOD
1. Heat water in a saucepan and place a glass bowl inside the saucepan (double boiler method)
2. Slowly melt the cacao butter in the bowl until completely liquid
3. Add in the remaining ingredient and stir thoroughly using a whisk and/or rubber spatula.
4. Pour the liquid chocolate into a cold chocolate bar mould and place in the freezer for it to set and keep refrigerated
5. Can be stored in fridge or freezer until ready to eat or serve.
OPTIONAL EXTRAS
The list is endless when it comes to options to add to raw chocolate - you can use essential oils (I love adding DoTerra orange or peppermint oil) or any other oil that is calling me in that particular momentt. You can also add non dairy milk to make more creamy, nuts, seeds or cacao nibs for a crunch, other superfood powders such as Maca and Lucuma for energy, hormone balance and a caramel taste, gojis or raisins, coconut.. you name it, you can add it!
Always add these before pouring in to a mix, by stirring them in the bowl, however, you can add some of the seeds, or perhaps rose to the bottom of the moulds for a visual wow factor.
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