Ora Ceremonial Cacao

For what may arguably be some of the absolute best cacao products on the planet, have a look at the what’s available from Ora Ceremonial Cacao, all created from mindfully-sourced, ethically-tradedlightly-roasted beans from small farms by the company's devoted founder, Jonas Ketterle, who is devoted to the most high standards. I really recommend trying some of their superb, beautifully-packaged easy-to-use pure cacao discs! They come in different flavors and are made specifically for making ceremonial style brews to drink yourself or share with others. Some are 100% cacao with no added sugar, and some are 85% cacao, which might be a bit more palatable to cacao newbies; all are without a doubt super duper high vibration plant medicine! In addition, Firefly's perfectly roasted cacao nibs are seriously the best I've ever tasted. check out ORA. For a discount, use code CHOCANANDA ♥️

Cacao Paste, Butter + Powder

ORA might be a bit pricey if you’re working with cacao beyond drinking a daily cup of ceremonial cacao. Other options for you are the 100% cacao wafers from Imlakesh or the chocolate tiles from Pacari. It's super handy — not to mention economical — to invest in a larger quantity of cacao paste at once if you will be working with cacao frequently like I do and this comes in 2.2 pound bags. Pacari also has extremely high standards for their products and the beans are all treated with ozone to minimize molds and other mycotoxins.

Pacari also sells very high quality cacao butter that I love having around too. It arrives in large chunks, and I simply chop a bunch into smaller pieces at once and then keep it sealed in a Mason jar for easily adding to drinks or concoctions anytime. 

For high quality cacao powder, try the Imlakesh brand; it’s processed at low heat and has a high fat content.

For nibs, try Imlakesh, unless you can find lightly toasted nibs somewhere — the toasting enhances the flavor a lot!

Want to try the magical and potent Bliss Like This Ecstatic and Vanilla Vibhutti raw chocolate bars from Living Libations and become utterly enchanted by cacao like I was? They're pricey, but are powerful formulations and have a unique texture because they're made by hand. You can peruse the many other high-vibe offerings from Living Libations. These products are hands down some of my absolute favorite skin, body, and dental care on the planet, and honestly, they have been life-changing for me, especially my skin. The entire site is full of poetry and the endlessly inspiring expertise of the incredibly wise and well-researched beauty goddess Nadine Artemis.
 

Essential Oils

This Peppermint Essential Oil is my favorite. 
Most citrus oils including Wild Orange, Mandarin, Lime, Grapefruit, Bergamot + Neroli all are incredible with chocolate!
Try these potent spice oils: Ginger, Lemongrass, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Turmeric + Fennel.
Pure flower magic can be found in each drop of Jasmine Essential Oil , Rose Absolute, Lavender + Blue Lotus!  
The always holy and potent Frankincense oil is a delightful surprise with cacao and has so many other uses too. 

Medicine Flower Extracts

The Medicine Flower extracts that I've tried are Butterscotch, Caramel + Almond. They each pair with cacao to add a depth and highlight its flavor. The Bulgarian Rose is also very lovely and a lot less pricey than rose essential oil if you'd like to add a drop into elixirs or another creation.

Spices + Salt

A few harder to find favorite spices of mine include Vietnamese Cinnamon powder and Espelette pepper powder. For topping chocolate treats, these two wonderful flaky salts are excellent: Maldon salt and Smoked Maldon.

Fruits

For topping Essential Chocolates or rolling truffles in, I LOVE these crunchy freeze dried raspberries + freeze dried tart cherries. There are so many fruit varieties available as well. For moist cherries, these tart ones are my favorite: dried Montmorency cherries.

Tonic Herbs + Adaptogens

For augmenting cacao's nutrition, these powdered herbs are my personal top picks:
• everyday additions for me are this well-priced gelatinized Maca and Shilajit 
• super adaptogens are Ashwaganda, Cordyceps, and Mucuna
• blue-green algae, a brilliant pairing with cacao
• medicinal mushroons Lion's Mane for brain power and Chaga for immunity and general health
• bee pollen: please source from your favorite local shop to support local beekeepers 🐝

Herbal Teas

My favorite herbs to brew and steep and pair with cacao are:
• my all-time favorite herbal tea ever: Spring Dragon Longevity Tea which is a potent formulation that includes gynostemma.
• pau d'arco loose tea
• red rosebuds
• chaga chunks

Sweeteners

Top choices for sweetening cacao creations are: 
• coconut sugar
• liquid coconut palm nectar
• date sugar crystals
• divinely flavored maple sugar
• lucuma powder

I also enjoy having bottles of stevia around, to balance the bitter flavor and keep my use of sugars in check. I also use dried powdered green herb in herbal infusions and other hot beverages where the sweet flavor will infuse into the hot liquid. 

Aside from stevia, other non-glycemic sweetener choices include:
• my favorite way to use my beloved monkfruit is as a potent pure extract powder such as this one (good for sweetening essential chocolates)
• birch xylitol crystals if you'd like to try the unobtrusive flavor of the low net carb sugar alcohols

Handy Equipment for Chocolate Making

My favorite dishwasher-safe Silicone molds are these: small square molds, large square molds, small heart molds, large heart molds + chocolate bar molds.
This ice cream scoop will help you make round truffles that are the perfect size easily.
You'll need this battery-powered milk frother for making your ceremonial cacao without a blender. It comes in handy both for making only one cup and also for frothing up a larger batch of a cacao drink. Especially great to have if you're on the go away from your blender or camping!

The high-speed blender that I could not ever, ever live without: Vitamix 5200 series. If you don't have one and are into upping your kitchen game, I could not recommend procuring one of these! It is a total game changer and life upgrade, and honestly, the recipes in ChocAnanda just aren't the same made in a regular blender. For super smooth elixirs, a high-speed blender is indispensible and worth saving up for.