Cacao nibs, certified organic, raw, 100g or 500g, 1kg or 5kg
Is it really organic?
"Recently, there has been an influx of inferior superfoods into the UK. When buying superfoods on the Internet or in shops, ensure you are buying organically certified (if it says organic, it should be accompanied by the details of the certifying body (OF&G or Soil Association, for example). If it doesn't say who's certified it, ask the seller for their certificate. For your protection, it's illegal to sell uncertified products as organic."
Type of cacao bean
"Our cacao nibs come from fairly traded sources, and are of the criollo variety. Criollo beans are recognised as the best beans in the world for flavour, consistency and nutrients. If you find cheaper nibs elsewhere, you may not get the same quality that you are used to when you buy from us."
Already peeled and kibbled, cacao nibs are very easy to pour into smoothies and other delights. You can eat them straight or in a trail mix. Try sprinkling on your breakfast. Add to a touch of agave nectar or another sweetening agent and chew. Freeze cacao beans with sweeteners (agave nectar is fantastic). Eat cold. Blend cacao nibs into herbal teas with the Peruvian ecstatic food maca. Crush cacao nibs with a pestle and mortar and add to raw ice creams for the best chocolate chips in the world. Create a raw chocolate bar. Blend the following raw ingredients together: cacao nibs, agave nectar, carob powder, maca, coconut oil, cacao butter, angstrom calcium, and cashews. Pour into a mould and freeze. Eat cold and experience the truth about the food of the gods!
Cacao is great fun for everyone -- especially kids!
Slave free
“Raw Britannia, Britannia’s raw chocolates saves, Britons never again need eat chocolate from slaves.”
We take the energetic properties of food very seriously. If you eat food grown with the slave vibe (like chocolate slaves or even animals in captivity slaves) then you’ll take on that vibe and will feel like a slave in your life. Free yourself and the planet by only choosing slave-free chocolate. There’s no excuse to eat chocolate -- to gain such mouthwatering pleasure -- at the expense of children and adults forced to harvest the beans for you. Our cacao and ecstatic foods all come from ethically traded companies. They are covered by a federation that protects everyone involved in the process. Our chocolate continually improves the quality of life for those who grow it, and we get such great feedback from our suppliers about community projects and initiatives.
Above all, raw chocolate makes you feel LOVE.
What is Cacao?
Cacao is the seed of a fruit of an Amazonian tree that was brought to Central America during or before the time of the Olmecs. Cacao beans were so revered by the Mayans and Aztecs that they used them as money.
In 1753 Carl von Linnaeus, the 18th-century Swedish scientist, thought that cacao was so important that he named the genus and species of this tree himself. He named this tree: Theobroma cacao, which literally means “cacao, the food of the gods.” As we approach 2012, and the patriarchal systems are crumbling, we decided to rename it "Cacao, food of the goddess".
Cacao beans contain no sugar and between 12% and 50% fat depending on variety and growth conditions. Our cacao beans contain around 40% fat content (low compared to other nuts). There is no evidence to implicate cacao bean consumption with obesity.
Raw cacao is contains hundreds of chemicals, is high in magnesium, iron, chromium, tryptophan, and antioxidants. It also contains PEA and anandamide.
Contrary to popular opinion, cacao is a poor source of caffeine. A typical sample of cacao nibs or cacao beans will yield anywhere from zero caffeine to 1,000 parts per million of caffeine (less than 1/20th of the caffeine present in coffee). In February 2008, Dr Gabriel Cousens discovered in clinical tests on healthy people that cacao does not elevate blood sugar in the same way as a caffeine containing food or beverage. In fact, Dr Cousens found that cacao has less of an effect on blood sugar than nearly any other food.
Sulphur and Magnesium
Cacao is remarkably rich in sulfur and magnesium. Cacao seems to be the number one source of magnesium of any food. This is probably the primary reason women crave chocolate during their period. Magnesium is associated with balanced brain chemistry, strong bones, and happiness. Magnesium is the most deficient major mineral on the Standard UK Diet (SUKD); over 80% of us are chronically deficient in Magnesium!
“Every study on chocolate is pointing to the same conclusion: there is something in chocolate that is really good for us. That something is the raw cacao bean, the nut that all chocolate is made from. The cacao bean has always been and will always be Nature’s #1 weight loss and high-energy food. Cacao beans are probably the best kept secret in the entire history of food.”
Cacao is high in the beauty mineral sulphur. Sulfur is associated with strong nails, hair, beautiful, shiny skin, and a clean liver and pancreas.
MAO Inhibitors
Cacao seems to diminish appetite, probably due to its monoamine oxidase enzyme inhibitors (MAO inhibitors) - these are different from digestive enzyme inhibitors found in most nuts and seeds. These rare MAO inhibitors actually produce favorable results when consumed by allowing more serotonin and other neurotransmitters to circulate in the brain. According to Dr Gabriel Cousens, MAO inhibitors facilitate youthening and rejuvenation.
Phenylethylamine (PEA)
Phenylethylamine (PEA) is found in chocolate. PEA is an adrenal-related chemical that is also created within the brain and released when we are in love. This is one of the reasons why love and chocolate have a deep correlation. PEA also plays a role in increasing focus and alertness.
Anandamide (the bliss chemical)
A neurotransmitter called anandamide, has been isolated in cacao. Anandamide is also produced naturally in the brain. Anandamide is known as the bliss chemical because it is released while we are feeling great. Cacao contains enzyme inhibitors that decrease our bodies’ ability to breakdown anandamide. This means that natural anandamide and/or cacao anandamide may stick around longer, making us feel good longer, when we eat cacao.
Allergies?
A recent study showed that only one out of 500 people who thought they were allergic to chocolate actually tested positive. Allergies to chocolate are quite rare. It is typically the case that the person is in fact allergic to milk and dairy products.
Why raw chocolate
What do you have for breakfast?" people often ask Shazzie, our founder and creator of these chocolate bars. "Chocolate!" she replies. And she gives the same answer for many of her meals and snacks. To those who haven't yet joined The Raw Chocolate Revolution, this reply may seem unhealthy. They may think Shazzie is obese or addicted to sugar. Yet, she’s healthy in the extreme. She’s a normal weight, and she hasn’t eaten refined sugar in over seven years. This is because the chocolate she eats is raw, vegan, free from refined sugar, loaded with ecstatic foods (chocolate being the main one!), and fully life-giving.
Quality assurance
We’ve worked really hard to find good raw cacao beans of a consistent nature to bring to the UK wholefood market. These beans do not have a microbe count, and we’ve performed experiments to prove this to ourselves. We were selling the same variety as Nature’s First Law in the USA for a long time, but we couldn’t bring them to the UK in sufficient quantities or at the right price. It took us several months to find a variety that we consider is as good and as clean as their nibs. Now we’ve found them, we’re very happy to share them with you. Our nibs are raw, organically certified, and handled with love all the way from the growers through us and to your customers.
Certificate of analysis
Yearly, we recieve a certificate of analysis from our organic cacao growers. This covers all our cacao products: liquor, nibs, powder, beans and butter. It says many things, yet the most interesting part is the microbiological analysis. This is the bit that shows to us our chocolate products are safe for human consumption without being cooked. Staphylococus aureus, pseudomonas, aeruginoses, escherichila coli and salmonella are all tested as 100% absent from all our raw chocolate products.
