GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE CACAO TREE AND THE MANY PRODUCTS IT PRODUCES

Cacao is the botanical name for the plant species and is a word often used to refer to the pod of the cacao tree and the beans within it, as well as the pure “paste” of the bean and the variety of products made from that. On the other hand, "cocoa" is a word used globally to refer to products including or manufactured from the powder which comes from the processed cacao bean and is the prevalent ingredient in most commercially-available chocolate bars. I use the word cacao to refer to the highest-quality products available from the theobroma cacao tree and chocolate interchangeably to refer to finished products including both cacao and cocoa.

Flowers •

It's worth knowing a little bit about the unique cacao tree, theobroma cacao. Without a doubt, it's quite a magical tree that grows in tropical ecosystems. Gorgeous pink-hued flowers do not grow on branches, but rather grow straight out of the trunk, like no other tree I’ve ever seen before. These lovely flowers are followed by the development of football-shaped pods that come in an array of sizes and colors: green, yellow, red, purple, maroon, brown, even occasionally blue.

Pulp + beans •

Inside of the mature pods, about 20-60 very bitter cacao beans sit surrounded by a fluffy white pulp that is sticky, sweet, and delicious. If you’ve ever had a chance to open a fresh cacao pod and try what’s inside, you know how incredible it is to see chocolate in this pure form. And if you've never come upon one of these pods when visiting a tropical climate, definitely keep an eye out next time! Encountering cacao in this way is a unique experience. The sweet and fluffy white pulp is quite a contrast to the astringent, bitter purple beans that you'll find inside.

GETTING CHOCOLATE FROM THIS BITTER BEAN

Once the pods are harvested, the next step is drying the beans. In smaller operations, this usually happens in the sun; in larger ones, the beans get dried in large ovens. After the roasting, the dried outer skins easily separate from the bean, and they are blown away in the winnowing process. Once they are free of their skins, the pealed beans can be easily crushed to make what we call cacao "nibs" or left whole.

Next, the whole beans or nibs will be roasted in ovens before the grinding process begins. For chocolate that will be sold with the label "raw," the roasting step is skipped since the beans must be kept under under 118.° (However, the raw label does not take into account that the traditional fermentation process, which unless it is tightly controlled, takes the temperature higher than 118°, usually to over 120° though raw food enthusiasts don’t seem to mind this ;)

Roasted or not, the nibs or peeled beans then go into a stone grinder for a while — 18 hours or often a lot longer! They are ground in much the same way that almonds or another nut might be ground into nut butter, and the longer they stay in the grinder, the smoother the finished product will be. Once the desired smoothness is reached, the mixture will be poured into molds and solidified. In industrial chocolate making, the puree that is created is called "cocao mass” or “cocoa liqueur” and is otherwise known and sold as unsweetened chocolate. In the raw food and artesenal chocolate world, this cacao mass is often referred to as “cacao paste.” Also, this minimally-processed cacao can also be known as ceremonial chocolate!

CACAO BUTTER

To create cacao butter, the melted paste gets processed in a hydraulic press, which uses heavy pressure to separate out the oil. The hard cake that is left will be milled very finely to get cacao powder. Cacao butter is highly prized in the beauty industry and fetches high prices, so sometimes most or all of it is pressed out of the cacao powder, but higher quality cacao powders actually have a higher percentage of cacao butter which is one reason they are tastier. Cacao butter is truly delicious. Though it's solid at room temperature, it melts just around body temperature and contributes to chocolate's melt-in-your-mouth quality. It is full of nutrition, fatty acids, and antioxidants, and a tablespoon or two of top-quality raw cacao butter daily can be a great addition to a healthy high-fat diet. It will happily glide onto your skin for an aromatic skin moisturizer on its won, and is a common ingredient in body butters too. Cacao butter usually comes in large rough chunks or small smooth discs. The small discs melt easily and uniformly; the large chunks need to be cut up with s sharp knife to melt easily.

The peeled beans naturally separate into nibs when lightly crushed

Unpeeled + peeled beans, pieces of cacao paste, and chunks of light yellow cacao butter

Chopped cacao
paste, ready to melt

Roasting cacao beans on a traditional comal over a fire in Teotlan del Valle, Mexico

RAW OR ROASTED: WHICH BEAN IS BETTER?

Raw or roasted?? This is quite a debate these days!

Like other foods, how cacao beans are processed greatly affects the myriad beneficial compounds that they contain. Cacao is one of the most pharmacologically complex substances of the planet, with compounds that cause a wide range of effects in our bodies, and differently processed beans contain different amounts of these valued substances. High temperatures such as those used in standard commercial manufacturing processes actually destroy, diminish, and neutralize a lot of these important compounds and their effects and benefits. There are many proponents of raw cacao who swear that unroasted, unadulterated cacao has many more benefits from intact polyphenols and generally a superior nutrient profile. Yet there is no definitive answer which is better in order to gain all of the tremendous health benefits from this precious substance.

Raw food guru David Wolfe claims that raw, unroasted caco is the holy grail of chocolate, and his extreme enthusiasm and efforts has helped cacao labeled as raw to gain tremendous popularity in the past decade. This may be true to some extent, though there are some things you need to know so that you procure the highest quality raw chocolate that has been treated with optimal care, and not just end up with some random beans that were not processed mindfully and reek with a vinegar-y smell of fermentation gone awry. I personally think it's super important that chocolate labeled raw come from companies that are clearly committed to the highest standards and who will disclose the provenance of their beans and share about any relevant processing that they undertake to be able to assure you that your yummy chocolate is free of mold and other substances that might be harmful to your health. Usually this means that at some point, the raw beans are treated with some form of ozone to rid them of any mycotoxins, mold, or the like, and attention to this matter is important.

Roasting benefits worth noting:

It's worth noting that roasting the beans is very much an integral step in traditional chocolate making, and the flavor profile of roasted cacao is arguably superior. Roasting definitely creates more complex flavor nuances. Gaining in popularity, low temperature or "light" roasting beans which mimics traditional methods of roasting over a fire can augment flavor to create a more complex flavor palette without compromising nutrition quite as much as the higher temperatures used in industrial processing. It can also be an effective and more traditional way to deal with any harmful mold toxins. I'll bet that cacao lightly roasted with the utmost care will be even more popular in the coming years as the market continues to demands higher quality products.

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