Hi Everyone!

I am new here and semi new to raw food diets. I couldn't find cacao poweder at whole foods so I substituted organic cocoa powder. Does anyone know why cocoa powder is not as desirable as cacao? Is cocoa powder not considered a "raw" food?
It sure does taste good in this recipe!! lol...

And secondly I DID find cacao nibs. Does anyone know if I can grind these and make authentic cacao powder?

Thanks for any help in advance. Have a great sunday!!!

Carrie

Cocoa and Cacao are ALMOST the same, close enough to not make any difference in flavor really, that I can notice, but many believe cacao powder is much better for you, the main differences being that "cacao powder" specifically refers to raw, unsweetened powder. "Cocoa powder," on the other hand, may still have a very small amount of cocoa butter present to enhance the flavor subtly.

The nibs would most likely ground into a paste from what ive read of them, not a powder, as they still have their delicious fats inside of them...lol... so im sure it could still be used in most raw applications, but I could be wrong.

Thank you! I did use it and it is delicious but I just don't want to sway from the raw side of things ;o)

Thanks for your fast response!

Carrie

well, as far as I can tell, no form of cacao can be considered really raw by the standards Ive seen put forth, as the basic fermentation process to even make it edible, involves temps far higher than 110 degrees on average...so I guess its just which is closer to raw...

Even cacao nibs???

to get cacao nibs, the beans are fermented in a process that usually involves them being covered in a black tarp of some material or another, and left out in the sun, which is often above 100 degrees Fahrenheit already in areas and the time of year in which the beans are harvested, so im sure under a black tarp, no matter what the material is, it would raise far above 115, but honestly, I dont think that matters when it comes to cacao, they are amazingly good for you, and inedible without such processing, often they also go through a roasting process after this, but im sure ones sold as "raw" probably haven't been roasted...

There IS truly raw cacao now as well as truly raw cacao butter -- sourced from Big Tree Farms in Bali.

Is it possible to put a video link here? I'll try:

[www.youtube.com]

It all remains below 100 degrees~!

There are more problems with cocoa powder than just the high temperatures.

It appears that even cooked cocoa/cacao is safe, but of course with companies like Hersheys they are not only adding bad sugars but they have even been replacing the cacao butter with vegetable oil...! Now that that billionaire bought up 260,000 tons of cacao recently - they say it was to artificially raise the cost of chocolate - it will be interesting to see what happens next.

By the way, the cacao from Big Tree Farms can be gotten through www.RawFoodWorld.com -- other places too I'm sure, but that's just the only place I remember since that is where I get mine.

As far as I can tell, the cacao beans and cacao nibs are probably EASIER to get "truly raw" from more companies. I think the powder and butter of cacao are the real TRICK...!

P.S. It is nice to visit here again! I used to come on this board just about every day back in 2002 especially. I work too much now to usually have time to come here but while my sound card is out on my computer it is cutting down my work hours, haha. (smile) Other names I used to go by here (in case any old-timers are reading this) are: GoRaw, TejasPear, Beegan and 24Carrots. I finally settled on Avocadess somewhere along the line...finally something stuck!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2010 06:27AM by Avocadess.