After my scouring of the internet I am sorry to say
chocolate is NOT the dream health food you all have been waiting for and paying
more money for “raw cocao” is a rip off.
Natural cocoa or cacao (two spellings meaning the exact same thing: the English
culture in some cases uses the word cacao when they talk about the bean of the
plant and cocoa when they talk about the finished powder product) does have
some redeeming properties. To gain significant health benefits you would need to eat a lot, without added fat or sugar, but chocolate also contains caffeine and theobromine which you do not want to consume abundantly. I like what Beth Klos, R.D., L.D.N., is an
outpatient senior nutritionist at Brigham and Women's Hospital says:
Having
chocolate in small portions is the key.
- Limit yourself to a small piece of chocolate (a bite-sized piece or about one-third of a bar).
- Choose dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate or Dutch processed (alkalized) products.
- Look at the ingredients. Make sure the first listed ingredient is cocoa solids or mass or chocolate liquor, not sugar.
When
you eat that little nip of chocolate, savor and enjoy! And if you are craving
more, consider the other flavonoid-rich foods with fewer calories such as
grapes, blueberries, strawberries and spinach. These are smart, colorful and
flavorful ways to keep your diet balanced.
Understanding how cocao becomes chocolate or a powder is
important and I found this simplified explanation ( I ready sooo many) as a response
to raw cocao on a blog: http://www.cheftalk.com/t/19794/whats-difference-between-cacao-powder-and-cocoa-powder
..and here is my reasoning and experience of 15 years in the
cocoa business, and as a chemical engineer.
Cocoa powder and cacao powder is the same.
What is considered "raw" cacao is supposed to be a cocoa powder that has been in a process that never exceedes 110 degrees Fahrenheit...which is already an almost impossible scenario, since cocoa beans are grown at the Equator, and you may exceed that temperature while drying on the patio under the sun covered with black linens (to heat it up and allow the fermentation of the bean)....and yes, you need to dry them, otherwise they will be rotten in a few days, and the shell will be too difficult to peel off.
Cocoa powder and cacao powder is the same.
What is considered "raw" cacao is supposed to be a cocoa powder that has been in a process that never exceedes 110 degrees Fahrenheit...which is already an almost impossible scenario, since cocoa beans are grown at the Equator, and you may exceed that temperature while drying on the patio under the sun covered with black linens (to heat it up and allow the fermentation of the bean)....and yes, you need to dry them, otherwise they will be rotten in a few days, and the shell will be too difficult to peel off.
*a scientific study that explains the loss of nutrients
during fermentation or roasting process http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3215931/
Cocoa powder and dark chocolate are appreciated, first and
foremost, for their flavor and texture. By attempting to make cocoa ingredients
healthier by shortening fermentation time or minimizing roasting for similar,
we would expect that the result would be a bitter, astringent ingredient with
lower than expected cocoa flavor. So as with many things, a balance needs to be
struck between different benefits; in this case flavor versus healthfulness.
*side note from an article I will post a link to: people
wouldn’t want to eat raw chocolate if they saw the way cacao beans were treated
in countries where they’re grown. Beans are stored outdoors, by the side of the
road, or under other decidedly non-hygienic conditions, such as sharing an area
with chickens, who walk over and/or defecate on them.
Back to cocoa powder....
ALL cocoa powder comes from the cocoa bean, which without the shell is called cocoa nib (a.k.a. cacao nib). The first step is grinding of the nib (which again, when you grind something to such small particle size you will create a lot of friction with -that's right - heat!). That will give you the cocoa/cacao paste (a.k.a. cacao mass or liquor), which has about 50 to 56% fat (cocoa butter) in it...and ALL cocoa powders have to go through that stage.
Next stage is to take some of that butter away, which the raw community claims can be done through "cold pressing". For any that don't understand that term, cold pressing is done with oils like olive oil to preserve the oil almost intact by cooling the press plates while applying pressure (pressure generates heat, therefore it needs to be cooled). But here is a reminder, olive oil is liquid in room temperature, cocoa butter is SOLID, and it STARTS melting at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit ... so, you cannot control and cool it to a point where it will be still in a solid phase, because it cannot be pressed and "flow" out.
Last operation is to grind the solids left in the press, again - heat...and there is your cocoa powder or cacao powder... you tell me if you call it "raw", a term not defined by the FDA for cocoa, and that can be used by anyone just to sell the cocoa to a much higher price. Maybe that is why bigger, more serious companies don't have this product, since they do not want to be liable for false advertising...
Regarding "Raw" cocoa nibs or cocoa beans...yes, that is possible, and the only concern is the high bacteriological plate count... but how much you want to train your immune system is up to each individual. And yes, the less manipulated the cocoa, the more polyphenols and healthy chemicals you will obtain from it.
There is also a difference between alkalized or dutched powders, and the natural ones (which do not contain any potassium carbonate), being the second ones the ones containing more of the healthy properties (antioxidants). But that is totally different than claiming a "raw" cocoa powder.
ALL cocoa powder comes from the cocoa bean, which without the shell is called cocoa nib (a.k.a. cacao nib). The first step is grinding of the nib (which again, when you grind something to such small particle size you will create a lot of friction with -that's right - heat!). That will give you the cocoa/cacao paste (a.k.a. cacao mass or liquor), which has about 50 to 56% fat (cocoa butter) in it...and ALL cocoa powders have to go through that stage.
Next stage is to take some of that butter away, which the raw community claims can be done through "cold pressing". For any that don't understand that term, cold pressing is done with oils like olive oil to preserve the oil almost intact by cooling the press plates while applying pressure (pressure generates heat, therefore it needs to be cooled). But here is a reminder, olive oil is liquid in room temperature, cocoa butter is SOLID, and it STARTS melting at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit ... so, you cannot control and cool it to a point where it will be still in a solid phase, because it cannot be pressed and "flow" out.
Last operation is to grind the solids left in the press, again - heat...and there is your cocoa powder or cacao powder... you tell me if you call it "raw", a term not defined by the FDA for cocoa, and that can be used by anyone just to sell the cocoa to a much higher price. Maybe that is why bigger, more serious companies don't have this product, since they do not want to be liable for false advertising...
Regarding "Raw" cocoa nibs or cocoa beans...yes, that is possible, and the only concern is the high bacteriological plate count... but how much you want to train your immune system is up to each individual. And yes, the less manipulated the cocoa, the more polyphenols and healthy chemicals you will obtain from it.
There is also a difference between alkalized or dutched powders, and the natural ones (which do not contain any potassium carbonate), being the second ones the ones containing more of the healthy properties (antioxidants). But that is totally different than claiming a "raw" cocoa powder.
http://www.healthcastle.com/cocoa.shtml explains the difference between the two types
of cocoa powder:
Natural Cocoa
This
process was explained above. Some popular brands of natural cocoa are
Nestlé, Hershey's, and Ghiradelli.
Dutch-Processed Cocoa
Dutch
processing refers to the process by which the cocoa beans are washed with an
alkaline solution, usually potassium carbonate, in order to neutralize the
acidity of the natural cocoa. The resulting cocoa is known as
"Dutched," "alkalized," or "Dutch-processed"
cocoa. Aside from neutralizing the acidity, alkalizing cocoa powder changes it
into a darker, more reddish shade of brown that may look more appealing, and
can also help mellow the flavor of the beans and improve solubility.
Since it does not react to baking soda like natural cocoa does, Dutch-processed
cocoa is usually used in recipes with baking powder. Some popular brands of
Dutch-processed cocoa are Lindt, Valrhona, and Droste.
Dr.
Fuhrman says this:
Cocoa
contains only a very small amount of caffeine. It does however contain
theobromine. Theobromine has stimulant properties, but it is much milder
compared to caffeine and has a mood improving effect. The low levels in cocoa
have not shown any harmful effects, but it can be toxic to dogs because they
cannot break down and eliminate theobromine like humans can.
No matter what you
hear in the media, eating dark chocolate with lots of added sugar and saturated
fat and other candy bar chemicals can’t be good for you, no matter how many
antioxidants are in the chocolate.
While
unprocessed, unsweetened cocoa powder should not be considered a food that
should be consumed in large amounts because of the theobromine, using
reasonable quantities to flavor desserts, smoothies and in your gourmet healthy
cooking, can actually add beneficial nutrients as well as make your family more
likely to eat healthfully, adding to the nutritional quality of their diet.
If you want a highly researched but very readable and in
depth article check this out:
1 comment:
super interesting!! I'm excited that you posted all the links too... there are a few I'm definitely going to check out. Thanks Kel!
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