The Sexiest Food on Earth: Raw Chocolate

One of the highlights of my stay in Bali was meeting so many insanely interesting and talented people.   One of those talented people was Juliette, who just happened to be the founder of Gaia Balls, an Australian company whose team hand-makes raw, organic, super-food balls.  She has yet to decide if the job description, “I make balls all day!” is appropriate.

On our last of the three free days we had during the course of the month, the lot of us gathered together at this amazing villa, for a raw chocolate extravaganza!  And by that I mean that Juliette taught us how to make raw chocolate and before it had even hardened, it had all but disappeared.

So what is raw chocolate?  Before I went to Bali, I had no idea what raw chocolate, or even raw food was, but it’s everywhere there, so I was quickly informed.

Let me give you a brief overview, and then if you really want to geek out you can watch the video at the end of this post.

This is a raw cacao bean, more often called a cocoa bean in western culture.  The cacao bean, is in fact not even a bean, but a nut.  The nut comes from the Cacao Tree, which is native to South America, and grows in large pods.

 The biggest difference between raw cacao and the everyday stuff is the temperature at which it is processed.  Raw cacao, or raw food in general, never surpasses 45 degrees celsius, unlike commercial chocolate which is often heated past 130 degrees.  By keeping the processing temperature low, the nutrients and enzymes remain intact.  When raw processed, cacao actually has tremendous health benefits.  It’s chock full of antioxidants, iron, zinc, copper, and magnesium (which is why women crave it at certain times of the month).  It also contains tryptophan, which is one of the 10 essential amino acids required for protein production in the body, and is also associated with neurotransmitters like seratonin which help regulate mood, sleep, and create the feeling of falling in love.

Raw chocolate is made in a blender, as is a lot of raw dessert, so it isn’t heated.  We added raw cacao powder to melted raw cacao butter, coconut oil, some vanilla beans, a bit of organic palm sugar syrup, and a pinch of salt.  Then we just blended it up until it was smooth (There is a point when it’s blended too far and starts to separate again, so be careful if you try it at home).  Before it was all devoured on top of strawberries, we poured some of it into little chocolate molds and added some orange, nuts, and berries before popping it into the fridge to set.

The best part about raw chocolate, besides tasting amazing, is that it’s not full of refined sugar, milk, crappy fats, and artificial flavouring.  It’s real food from the source, just like it should be.  There are tons of amazing raw chocolate recipes out there, so go ahead and experiment.  The worst that can happen is you end up with a bunch of chocolate you have to eat…. darn!