FLAVOR ADDITIONS, ESSENTIAL OILS, EXTRACTS, SPICES, FRUITS + NUTS TO PAIR WITH CACAO
There are so many ways to flavor your cacao creations! Here are some of my favorite things to add to my own, for your inspiration.
Essential Oils
Highest quality pure essential oils are great any cacao creation. Be sure to seek out for superior ones that specify on the bottle that they're fit for internal consumption. Essential oils are fun to have around and last for a long time, and they’re useful for a multitude of other uses as well. How much to add depends on how strong of a flavor you prefer; essential oils are very concentrated plant compounds, so sometimes one drop is enough or it might be delicious to add half a dozen. Start small and keep tasting to determine how much works in what you're making.
Some favorite oils I enjoy pairing with chocolate are below, but there are so many others to try too, so keep an eye out!
• anything in the mint family, including peppermint and spearmint
• flower oils and absolutes such as rose, lavender, and jasmine (usually best used very sparingly)
• citrus oils, including orange, mandarin, lime, grapefruit, bergamot, neroli and others
• ginger, lemongrass, cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric, fennel
• sacred oils such as frankincense, blue lotus, saffron, ylang ylang
Medicine Flower extracts
These potent extracts come in an array of yummy flavors like butterscotch, caramel, almond, coconut, and dozens more. They're really fun to work with, relatively inexpensive for the amount you get, and one bottle lasts a long time. Many raw food chefs use these frequently in their dessert creations. I was wondering how they got such a concentrated butterscotch or coffee flavor into each drop, so I called the company a couple years back to inquire about their process. They informed me that they used a similar process to the distillation of essential oils, only instead of distilling a mass of plant material, they actually do low-temperature distillations of things like butterscotch candies, caramel, nuts, coconut, fruits and vegetables! These are a great alternative to so-called “natural flavors.” I highly recommend trying out a bottle and seeing what you think.
Flavored Stevia
Inexpensive and handy, these are very popular with makers of daily elixirs. My favorites are Vanilla Cream and English Toffee, which both pair well with cacao. For the Essential Chocolates, you will want to avoid adding any watery moisture to the mix, and these stevia extracts do contain water, so be careful. There are glycerin-based extracts that are more suitable where adding water might cause the mixture to seize up.
Spices
Fresh, good-quality dried spices have a lot of flavor and are fantastic additions to cacao creations. Use your imagination, as there are likely spices in your cupboard that might go well with cacao that you never thought of before! I especially like dried chili powders of all sorts (i.e. cayenne, chipotle, French espelette), cardamom, Vietnamese cinnamon (aka Saigon cinnamon, which has a kick and is spicier than regular Ceylon cinnamon), and turmeric. Other ideas might be crushed or whole fennel seeds, saffron powder, ginger powder, star anise powder, and freshly grated nutmeg.
Nuts + Seeds
Whether raw, roasted, or soaked and then dehydrated, nuts and seeds pair deliciously with chocolate. If you can, try a few before you buy them to make sure that they're fresh and not rancid! A few of my favorites to pair with cacao include toasted sesame seeds, toasted hazelnuts or pistachios, or soaked and dehydrated almonds.
TO TOAST NUTS:
Preheat oven to 350. Put nuts or seeds on a sheet pan and bake, checking frequently and shaking the pan every few minutes, for 5 to 10 minutes, or just until the nuts are beginning to turn color and slightly golden.
TO SOAK + DEHYDRATE NUTS:
Nuts and seeds both contain enzyme inhibitors to prevent them from sprouting prematurely until they are in ideal growing condition. When you soak them, toxic enzyme inhibitors are released and phytic acid is neutralized, and they become easier to digest, which can be important if you eat a lot of them. Adding salt to the soaking water is even more beneficial, as the salt helps activate the enzymes that deactivate the enzyme inhibitors — plus it’s tasty. If you soak nuts and seeds to use in the Essential Chocolates, it’s best to then dry them completely in a dehydrator or in an oven on the lowest setting.
To soak: Put about 1 teaspoon sea salt per cup of nuts and add water to cover. Soak dense nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans about 6 or 8 hours, walnuts about 4. Use your eyes—when the nuts have become plump, that is a good sign. When done, drain thoroughly and rinse well in fresh water.
Dried + Freeze Dried Fruits
High-quality dried fruits free from sulfur or preservatives are yummy in chocolate. Cherries, mulberries, raisins, goji berries, persimmons, currants, goldenberries, figs, and blueberries all pair well. Use them whole or chop them a bit before adding. A wide variety of crunchy freeze-dried fruits are available now too, and they’re fun to play with. You can use them whole or easily crumble them into the chocolate or on top. I like mango, strawberries, and raspberries best. You can also use fruit that you have dehydrated yourself.
Product Recommendations
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.
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