I have bought raw cacao several times, I believe. This one is supposed to be different--better in some way. When I tried it, it didn't seem to contain as much fat as the last brand--like when I used it in a blended beverage it didn't separate as much as the other one did. On the label it said 1 gram of fat per serving. I also had a container of Trader Joe's cocoa powder and it has the same amount of fat--1 gram.

Question: besides being raw, what other aspects of raw cacao exist that are not present in cocoa powder, if any?

For those who want to buy better raw cacao - buy whole beans. Blend the skins, too.

It looks to me to be a bit of a scam in some ways. First of all, to remove the cocoa butter means they can make money off cacao twice! I have never bought cacao butter. I think it would be delicious in raw candies. Yes, the whole beans seem like a plan but HOW to blend such hard things? Would I grind them in a coffee grinder? What about all that fat?

The bottom line is that cocoa powder and cacao probably contain the same nutrients but the raw version is "better" because it hasn't been heated and therefore nothing has been altered. Has anyone ever had a full-fat cacao powder?

banana who Wrote:
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. Yes, the whole beans seem like a
> plan but HOW to blend such hard things?

I throw them in the VitaMix with the water and big hunks of meat from white coconuts, etc. as per Marcus Rothkranz's recipe for chocolate milk where he uses young Thai coconuts.


What about all
> that fat?


Tastes great and my lipid panels reflect that high fat is much better for me than low fat was so I'm sticking with the plan I'm on.



> The bottom line is that cocoa powder and cacao
> probably contain the same nutrients but the raw
> version is "better" because it hasn't been heated
> and therefore nothing has been altered.

No. The powder and the coca butter are very different in all respects.

Has anyone
> ever had a full-fat cacao powder?

The powder is the byproduct remains after the fat has been extracted from the beans. You can buy nibs which are crushed up beans sans the very nutrient dense skins but the whole beans are a vastly superior product just as with almost every other food stuff.

Thanks, Suez! I am not concerned about consuming the fat but if I were to use a coffee grinder if it would overburden the machine. I like the idea of throwing them in a VM. But I also will looking into the nibs. Might be a nice medium.

banana who Wrote:
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> Thanks, Suez! I am not concerned about consuming
> the fat but if I were to use a coffee grinder if
> it would overburden the machine. I like the idea
> of throwing them in a VM. But I also will looking
> into the nibs. Might be a nice medium.


You're welcome!

In my experiences I haven't had trouble with the beans overburdening any of my grinders - the problem is that you have to peel the beans first (which is time consuming) otherwise the skins just float around in there and don't get ground up to powder and are a pain to separate out.

The nibs don't have skins so they work fine. I just ground up a 20 gram batch of "raw" organic nibs that nuts.com sent me as a free sample and they powdered up quickly and very well in a little Krupp grinder.

Raw Cacao I love I admit - put some in my smoothies