Raw chocolate

[Guest guest]

Nature's First Law, which sells raw cacao beans, assures us buyers that

theirs are clean and pure.

 

In a message dated 5/22/2004 4:19:52 PM Eastern Standard Time,

southladogs writes:

This recipe seems to be raw carob, rather than chocolate, which is

great. See below for the problems with actual chocolate. I'd take

out the honey, though. Carob is naturally sweet, and fruit can be

added if more sweetness is desired.

 

I previously posted a link about the cruelty involved in obtaining

honey, but here again are the links:

 

http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm

 

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/info/info24.html

 

Additionally, please read what Dr. Herbert Shelton says about the

unhealth of eating honey:

 

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020126shelton.orthotrop

hy/020126.ch13.htm

 

In the words of a raw vegan from another board: " Why use honey when

there are so many alternatives? Soaking dates and blending them up

with water makes a fine sweet syrup. " (Soak dried fruit in the

refrigerator, to avoid fermentation.)

 

And chocolate is also problematic from esthetic, health, and ethical

standpoints. Chocolate comes from the cacao plant, which grows in

the tropics, and it is heaped for days on the ground, while it rots

and accumulates insects and rodents. Consequently, when people eat

chocolate they are consuming insect parts and rodent hairs (and

rodent dung). Here's a description:

 

http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dalbook.html

 

Chocolate:

Insect filth

(AOAC 965.38) Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams

when 6 100-gram subsamples are examined

OR

Any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments

Rodent filth

(AOAC 965.38) Average is 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams in 6

100-gram subsamples examined

OR

Any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs

 

Chocolate contains caffeine/theobromine and tannin, as well as

methylzantine, powerful toxins. And chocolate is naturally bitter,

so it generally requires lots of sugar to sweeten it. Here is a link

that gives a good overall picture that could sober up any

chocoholic:

 

http://www.pathlights.com/Public%20Enemies/chocolate.htm

 

http://www.ccsda.org/HGpg3.html

 

Additionally, child slave labor is used to harvest chocolate:

 

http://www.foodrevolution.org/slavery_chocolate.htm

 

Zsuzsa

 

 

rawfood , " alan_schechner " <alan@d...> wrote:

> There was a delicious raw chocolate recipe on this group about a

month ago

> that I seem to have lost. It was made of Raw honey, Almond

butter, raw carob

> and frozen. If anyone has it could they repost it

>

> Thanks

>

> Alan

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

This recipe seems to be raw carob, rather than chocolate, which is

great. See below for the problems with actual chocolate. I'd take

out the honey, though. Carob is naturally sweet, and fruit can be

added if more sweetness is desired.

 

I previously posted a link about the cruelty involved in obtaining

honey, but here again are the links:

 

http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm

 

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/info/info24.html

 

Additionally, please read what Dr. Herbert Shelton says about the

unhealth of eating honey:

 

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020126shelton.orthotrop

hy/020126.ch13.htm

 

In the words of a raw vegan from another board: " Why use honey when

there are so many alternatives? Soaking dates and blending them up

with water makes a fine sweet syrup. " (Soak dried fruit in the

refrigerator, to avoid fermentation.)

 

And chocolate is also problematic from esthetic, health, and ethical

standpoints. Chocolate comes from the cacao plant, which grows in

the tropics, and it is heaped for days on the ground, while it rots

and accumulates insects and rodents. Consequently, when people eat

chocolate they are consuming insect parts and rodent hairs (and

rodent dung). Here's a description:

 

http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dalbook.html

 

Chocolate:

Insect filth

(AOAC 965.38) Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams

when 6 100-gram subsamples are examined

OR

Any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments

Rodent filth

(AOAC 965.38) Average is 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams in 6

100-gram subsamples examined

OR

Any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs

 

Chocolate contains caffeine/theobromine and tannin, as well as

methylzantine, powerful toxins. And chocolate is naturally bitter,

so it generally requires lots of sugar to sweeten it. Here is a link

that gives a good overall picture that could sober up any

chocoholic:

 

http://www.pathlights.com/Public%20Enemies/chocolate.htm

 

http://www.ccsda.org/HGpg3.html

 

Additionally, child slave labor is used to harvest chocolate:

 

http://www.foodrevolution.org/slavery_chocolate.htm

 

Zsuzsa

 

 

rawfood , " alan_schechner " <alan@d...> wrote:

> There was a delicious raw chocolate recipe on this group about a

month ago

> that I seem to have lost. It was made of Raw honey, Almond

butter, raw carob

> and frozen. If anyone has it could they repost it

>

> Thanks

>

> Alan

[Guest guest]

Yes. They're a little bit bitter, but a nice bitter, a bitter with

character. And tonight, for the first time ever, I tasted a box of NFL's

ready-made

raw chocolate and it is to die for! Oh my god!

 

Judy

 

In a message dated 5/22/2004 8:07:45 PM Eastern Standard Time,

southladogs writes:

I just looked at NFL's product description for their raw cacao

beans. It looks intriguing. Certainly if these are raw, whole, non-

fermented, organically grown, and fair-trade grown and processed,

cacao seeds, and if they taste good in their raw, natural

unprocessed form, then they are a good food. I would like to try

them sometime. Have you eaten them?

 

Zsuzsa

 

 

rawfood , vegwriter@a... wrote:

> Nature's First Law, which sells raw cacao beans, assures us buyers

that

> theirs are clean and pure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I just looked at NFL's product description for their raw cacao

beans. It looks intriguing. Certainly if these are raw, whole, non-

fermented, organically grown, and fair-trade grown and processed,

cacao seeds, and if they taste good in their raw, natural

unprocessed form, then they are a good food. I would like to try

them sometime. Have you eaten them?

 

Zsuzsa

 

 

rawfood , vegwriter@a... wrote:

> Nature's First Law, which sells raw cacao beans, assures us buyers

that

> theirs are clean and pure.

[Guest guest]

Julie, actually, you can live quite nicely without raw cacao. It

really isn't good to eat stimulating foods. I never eat it and I'm

almost to my first anniversary of eating raw. And forget the long

recipes! The fewer ingredients _are_ the better. Keep it simple and

you'll do fine.

 

Tommie

http://www.rawburchard.blogspot.com

 

rawfood , " shoe_lover26 " <shoe_lover26

wrote:

>

> I tried raw cacao beans for the first time and I must be honest:

they

> are DISCUSTING!! Extremely bitter-yuck!! I really want to enjoy the

> health benefits of these things raw but I don't know if I can

tolerate

> the taste...any suggestions on how to eat them to make them taste

> better? I hate to make long recipes so the fewer ingredients the

> better!

>

> Thanks for your input!

>

> julie

>

[Guest guest]

They are like " baker's chocolate " , have you ever tried that? It's not sweetened,

so that's

why it's bitter. Sweetened it is delicious, but beware it can be stimulating

like coffee to

some people, I can't have it past noon or I won't fall asleep until 3 or 4 am!

1- In your food processor, put 1 lb of pitted dates. Grind Cacao Nibs in your

coffee grinder

(8 oz) and add them to the ground up dates. This tastes best cold. You can add

orange

juice, raspberries or mint flavoring or eat with a slice of orange or a

strawberry for best

results!

2- Cacao can also be added to almond milk with agave nectar. It tastes best with

mesquite

powder in my opinion and with a bit of raw carob has a very rich chocolaty

taste! Put the

almond milk, agave, ground cacao and mesquite and or carob all in the blender.

If you

don't like the texture of the chocolate, strain it through some muslin cloth.

Add a banana

and sweeten with dates instead of agave for a malt like drink.

3- For super quick snack, pit a date, open it and push it into a bowl of cacao

nibs. They

will stick to the inside of the sticky date and eat! (works best with honey

dates) Good with

an orange slice, or fresh strawberry or rasperry too!

4- Place frozen cherries in your food processor blend until smooth, scraping the

sides

regularly (add a little agave if desired) add cacao nibs: cherry chocolate chip

sorbet!!! Can

also be done with frozen babanas or strawberries!

5- Blend walnuts, almonds or brazil nuts in your food processor and add pitted

dates until

it forms a ball. Add ground cacao for brownies or cacao nibs for chocolate chip

blondies.

Push into a pie plate, freeze and then cut into squares.

These are just a few of the creations a chocolaholic can come up with given

time!

OK, I could go on and on!!!

Try these and then I'm sure you will find your own yummy recipes soon!

Denise Thomas

 

 

rawfood , " shoe_lover26 " <shoe_lover26 wrote:

>

> I tried raw cacao beans for the first time and I must be honest: they

> are DISCUSTING!! Extremely bitter-yuck!! I really want to enjoy the

> health benefits of these things raw but I don't know if I can tolerate

> the taste...any suggestions on how to eat them to make them taste

> better? I hate to make long recipes so the fewer ingredients the

> better!

>

> Thanks for your input!

>

> julie

>

[Guest guest]

Julie - did you slide the skins off? I know they are not what most people

expect. Hope you weren't thinking chocolate, because that is what is the BASE

for chocolate. Then the sugar and crap is added to make it taste " better " .

 

Personally I love the cacao nibs. I dip my bananas in them, put them in nut

milk smoothies, whirl with young coconut meat & agave for a pudding.....they are

better than coffee, for me.

 

Shari

 

 

[Guest guest]

Bitter is mother natures way of letting them know they are not food for

us. Chocolate is a complex drug full of theobromine and caffine which

in itself is enough reason to avoid it. Whatever 'good' is in chocolate

can be food in other raw foods that naturally taste good and don't have

the systemic drug effects that chocolate does.

 

That being said, if you grind them into a powder and use them in raw

recipes in place of carob you will find a nice chocolate treat. I was

at a raw pot luck the other day where someone made a carob mousse with

avocados, coconut oil, carob powder and agave that was really quite

good and easy to make.

 

-Mike

 

--- shoe_lover26 <shoe_lover26 wrote:

 

> I tried raw cacao beans for the first time and I must be honest: they

>

> are DISCUSTING!! Extremely bitter-yuck!! I really want to enjoy the

> health benefits of these things raw but I don't know if I can

> tolerate

> the taste...any suggestions on how to eat them to make them taste

> better? I hate to make long recipes so the fewer ingredients the

> better!

>

> Thanks for your input!

>

> julie

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone

 

I suppose this question is primarily directed to Elchanan (following

his devasting analysis of the sunflower seed dressing - gulp!)

 

One of my very favourite foods (apart from olives) is raw chocolate.

I buy it from Shazzie in the UK and the bar I've just finished is

made of:

 

Cacao butter, cacao powder, goji berries, almonds, agave nectar, rose

petals and Himalayan pink salt (all raw, free from agro-chemicals).

Actual quantities/percentages aren't stated but I think UK labelling

law dictates that the ingredient comprising the biggest percentage of

the whole is listed first.

 

Elchanan, I would love your analysis of this, as I can't help feeling

that this chocolate I love so much must be destroying me in various

ways (interestingly, I had never been into chocolate particularly

when non-raw - I didn't have a 'thing' for chocolate at all).

 

I'm not being facetious - I'd really like to know what you think, and

would also welcome anyone else's views on raw chocolate and whether,

despite all the amazing health benefits claimed for it, we should be

eating it.

 

Love

 

Debbie Took, Reading, UK