Day 343 of 365 - Cocoa or Cacao?
For those of us who love chocolate, particularly darker chocolate, you may have wondered about the terminology used to describe what is in your chocolate bar or other product. In the wellness world, there is lots of promotion of the benefits of what is described as raw cacao (pronounced KA-COW) versus regular cocoa (pronounced CO-CO).
Chocolate is made from cacao beans, which are actually the seeds contained in pods which grow on the Theobroma cacao tree. Choclatiers use the word cacao to refer to the pod and beans before they are fermented and dried. After that they call it cocoa. It's still a bit confusing, right? It helps a bit to know what the typical processing entails.
The first step is fermentation for a few days of the beans after they are removed from the pods. Then they are dried, followed by roasting. After roasting the beans are crushed, which results in what are called cacao nibs. Then, grinding produces cocoa liquor, which is half cocoa butter. To make powder, the liquor is pressed to remove most of the fat. To make chocolate, the liquor is mixed with other ingredients.
I always wondered what cocoa liquor referred to on the ingredients list of a chocolate bar! In any case, the quality and nutritional value of your chocolate depends not only upon the source of the beans, but also on the processing, particularly the roasting. The higher the temperature of roasting, the more loss of nutritional content. When the drying and milling is done at low temperatures, the products will usually be called raw cacao.
What extra nutritional value can you expect from raw cacao? It is considered a superfood because of high content of minerals, enzymes, flavanoids and many more plant based compounds which support health. It is highly antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
You can buy raw cacao in the form of nibs or as a powder. I have a bag of the nibs in my pantry. I purchased them to use in a square that I made. Eaten alone they are chewy and do have a nutty, chocolate flavor. Raw cacao powder will cost you at least twice as much as your typical can of grocery store cocoa, and a lot more if it is organic, and single sourced, rather than being a blend of beans from different places.
To benefit much from chocolate, you need to consume products made of a minimum of 70%. This is usually at the top of the ingredient list using the words cocoa mass or cocoa liquor along with the percentage. In recent years I have developed a taste for darker and darker chocolate, and now enjoy even 95% bars. That being said, even though I buy what I think of as decent quality bars, sometimes buying the single sourced kinds when they are on sale, it's all a matter of processing.
So, to increase the likelihood of having, say, a very good quality cup of hot cocoa, use raw cacao powder and make your own. By the way, dairy apparently inhibits the absorption of the antioxidants from raw cacao, so it is better to use non-dairy milk. There, now you have the skinny on chocolate. Enjoy!
P.S. Although I got some gourmet quality chocolates for my birthday, I imagine that any health benefits from the good chocolate are cancelled out by the high sugar content. Oh well, it's a very occasional treat!
Chocolate is made from cacao beans, which are actually the seeds contained in pods which grow on the Theobroma cacao tree. Choclatiers use the word cacao to refer to the pod and beans before they are fermented and dried. After that they call it cocoa. It's still a bit confusing, right? It helps a bit to know what the typical processing entails.
The first step is fermentation for a few days of the beans after they are removed from the pods. Then they are dried, followed by roasting. After roasting the beans are crushed, which results in what are called cacao nibs. Then, grinding produces cocoa liquor, which is half cocoa butter. To make powder, the liquor is pressed to remove most of the fat. To make chocolate, the liquor is mixed with other ingredients.
I always wondered what cocoa liquor referred to on the ingredients list of a chocolate bar! In any case, the quality and nutritional value of your chocolate depends not only upon the source of the beans, but also on the processing, particularly the roasting. The higher the temperature of roasting, the more loss of nutritional content. When the drying and milling is done at low temperatures, the products will usually be called raw cacao.
What extra nutritional value can you expect from raw cacao? It is considered a superfood because of high content of minerals, enzymes, flavanoids and many more plant based compounds which support health. It is highly antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
You can buy raw cacao in the form of nibs or as a powder. I have a bag of the nibs in my pantry. I purchased them to use in a square that I made. Eaten alone they are chewy and do have a nutty, chocolate flavor. Raw cacao powder will cost you at least twice as much as your typical can of grocery store cocoa, and a lot more if it is organic, and single sourced, rather than being a blend of beans from different places.
To benefit much from chocolate, you need to consume products made of a minimum of 70%. This is usually at the top of the ingredient list using the words cocoa mass or cocoa liquor along with the percentage. In recent years I have developed a taste for darker and darker chocolate, and now enjoy even 95% bars. That being said, even though I buy what I think of as decent quality bars, sometimes buying the single sourced kinds when they are on sale, it's all a matter of processing.
So, to increase the likelihood of having, say, a very good quality cup of hot cocoa, use raw cacao powder and make your own. By the way, dairy apparently inhibits the absorption of the antioxidants from raw cacao, so it is better to use non-dairy milk. There, now you have the skinny on chocolate. Enjoy!
P.S. Although I got some gourmet quality chocolates for my birthday, I imagine that any health benefits from the good chocolate are cancelled out by the high sugar content. Oh well, it's a very occasional treat!
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