The Secret to Making Epic Cacao Creations

Here at Sunfood our love of cacao just continues to increase. We are always discovering fun and delicious new ways to use the “food of the gods”, Theobroma cacao.

Raw cacao is not only a nutrient rich food; it is chocolate in its purest form. So what could be better to experiment with when creating raw cuisine and gourmet treats? 

Cacao comes in many different forms: beans, nibs, powder butter and paste. And lately cacao paste has been our favorite to experiment with.

Our cacao paste comes directly from our delicious Ecuadorian cacao beans. It is prepared by delicately grinding cacao nibs at low temperatures to yield a rich chocolaty paste.

The paste is poured into molds and allowed to cool, creating pure sold bricks of cacao paste. So cacao paste is just ground up nibs (small pieces of cacao bean). The advantage to using paste over nibs is that the cacao has been ground into tiny particles, allowing for much smoother chocolate creations.

Tempering is when the cacao paste is held at a precise temperature and further mixed for an extended period of time.

This process creates the very smallest particles of cacao (60 microns) and causes the cacao butter within the paste to crystalize evenly when it cools, preventing a chalky or crumbly paste and giving it a consistent, dark color and shine. This form of cacao is ideal for creating the very best chocolaty creations.

Using both tempered and un-tempered cacao paste is easy. Simply melt the paste in a bowl inside your dehydrator (110° F should do it), or you can place the paste in a glass bowl and set the bowl in hot water. Either method will melt the paste into a thick, luscious, liquor that will fill your kitchen with a chocolate aroma.

Once the paste is melted you are ready to mix in your other ingredients to make your dessert, treat or hot chocolate beverage.Un-tempered cacao paste will not be quite as shiny and smooth as tempered cacao paste, but the flavor is remarkably similar.

Just like our other raw cacao products, cacao paste is a powerful source of nutrition. Cacao paste is bursting with antioxidants, magnesium and substances such as anandamide (the bliss chemical) and phenylethylamine (PEA).

PEA is the pleasure chemical found in the brains of people in love; no wonder people are so attracted to chocolate! Cacao paste is also a natural source of trace minerals, such as manganese, zinc, chromium and copper. Cacao paste contains Theobromine, iron, and omega-6 fatty acids which play an important role in heart health, and brain function. Antioxidants, including polyphenols, catechins and epicatechins, help to fight off free radicals, making cacao paste an energizing and nutrient dense superfood.