100% Cacao
Organic, Fresh Frozen 1 Pound
(Please see important note below)
This is fresh frozen Cacao with the fruit pulp. This is Cacao before it's dried and broken into nibs. Chocolate is made from the nuts "beans" inside the Cacao pod. Each Cacao nut has a thin layer of the Cacao fruit pulp on it. Fresh Raw Cacao has the most nutrients. It is full of many vitamins, minerals, a great source of magnesium, and natural substances like anandamide that make people feel good.
Typically Cacao is fermented, dried, roasted, and broken into pieces called Cacao Nibs, then ground up to make Chocolate. The nuts average about the size of an almond. The fruit is perishable so it’s not commonly available. The nut has a thin skin that is usually discarded but more current research shows that the skin is very nutritious and contains Theobromine which is a powerful antibacterial against the main bacteria responsible for tooth decay.
The nuts "beans" can be eaten as is right out of the bag, frozen in portions for smoothies, etc.... They're sweet on the outside (unless they ferment and then the fruit becomes a good healthy vinegar) and bitter Chocolate on the inside. The bitterness is the Polyphenols which are anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory. The typical fermentation process for making Chocolate takes away some of the bitterness but at the cost of losing some of the Polyphenols. We harvest the Cacao and freeze it right away, not fermented.
Serving Suggestions: Eat as is out of the bag, add to smoothies, in fruit salads, etc… (See the raw Chocolate recipe above)
Important Note: The Cacao is taken out of the freezer and shipped right away with USPS 3 Day Priority, but will not still be frozen when you receive it. Priority Express (1 or 2 days) is an option (See shipping page for details). In the colder months of the year the fruit may still be sweet. But when Cacao warms up the fruit melts and turns from white to clear and becomes a good healthy vinegar, that is part of the traditional Chocolate making fermentation process. It is recommended to freeze or refrigerate it when it arrives if you don't plan to ferment it.
