Make Your Own Raw Chocolate
Basic
ingredients for raw chocolate (good thing we keep the pantry stocked)
Melting
the cacao
Finished!
Last
night, as the snow was piling up outside, I realized that I needed chocolate.
(This happens.) Good thing we keep a stocked pantry, and all the ingredients
for a fresh batch of super healthy, pure raw chocolate were there.
It’s
insanely easy, and the final product is pure, raw chocolate, not the
hyper-processed, refined sugar, preservative-laden, artificially colored and
flavored candy that many of us call chocolate. No, this is the real, raw deal.
Here’s
the few, simple steps to realizing your own, fresh batch of raw chocolate in
your kitchen. You’ll never look back:
Use
all organic, GMO-free ingredients for this. Melt, in a double boiler and at a
low heat, one pound of raw cacao. After it’s melted, remove it from the heat,
and whisk in two heaping tablespoons of cacao powder, ½ cup of coconut palm
sugar (substitute a ¼ cup of raw honey if the sugar isn’t your thing), and ¼
cup finely chopped dates.
One of
the perks of raw chocolate is that it is a dopamine amplifier (called the
‘chocolate high’). But in order to activate that property, it should be eaten
with adequate B12. Choose the B12 tablets labeled ‘methylcobalamin’. For a
pound of raw chocolate, I add 5,000 MCG (5 tablets), ground into a powder in a
coffee grinder. Stir it in after all the other ingredients have been
incorporated.
Skip
the B12 I f it’s just the pure, raw chocolate you’re after. But I see this as
an opportunity to naturally boost dopamine, so I take the extra minute to add
the B12.
Pour
the mixture in molds, and refrigerate. It will be firm and ready to eat in an
hour.
You
can also add nuts, bee pollen, or raisins. A little natural mint, orange, or raspberry
extract is yummy too.
Yesterday
was Losar. We’ve been celebrating since last weekend. I made red bean cakes for
the Buddha, and beautiful Tibetan music has been filling the house. A quiet,
peaceful celebration of the Year of the Fire Monkey. Tashi Delek!
Live Pono
