I love cacao, the raw form of chocolate, as anyone who knows me or reads my blog regularly knows. For a while, I have used cacao powder primarily, due to its convenience. When I ate Taza chocolate, as detailed in a previous entry, I fell in love with it, and sensed a difference. I just found out why.
Confusion has always existed regarding the difference between cacao, cocoa, cacao powder, and cocoa powder. Strictly speaking, cacao refers to the raw unprocessed form of chocolate. Cocoa refers to the processed form of cacao, commonly used to make chocolate. One might think therefore, that cacao powder simply refers to ground up nibs (bits of cacao beans) in an unprocessed raw form, and that cocoa powder refers to a processed powder. One might also assume that something labeled “Raw, Organic Cacao Powder” would not have any processing. However, you know what they say about what happens when you assume: it makes an ass out of you and me.
I recently wanted to purchase some Cacao powder from NutsOnline. They offer the best prices and fast shipping. To my dismay, I saw the following warning:
This product is heated during the manufacturing process and is not considered raw.
I felt shocked and disgusted with myself for not noticing this. Now I understood the difference. Some quick searching confirmed my suspicions. Most cacao powder refers to the separated mass of the cacao, with the fats removed, and often gets heated to as high as 350F! Some does not, and some cacao powder even does just refer to the ground nibs, but most cacao powder has the fats removed, and heating of course destroys many of the beneficial ingredients. Taza uses the whole bean, giving it a fuller flavor. This explained everything, and I could taste and feel the difference.
Fortunately, NutsOnline offers another product, Cacao Paste, which does not employ heating, and as soon as I used it, I could again taste the full flavor and feel the difference. Oof! Boom! Yeah!
The moral of the story: Just because something advertises itself as raw organic Cacao powder does not make it so. It depends on the manufacturing process. It may actually not use excessive heat, but it most likely does, and most likely has the fats removed. I need all the beneficial fat I can get! I feel somewhat betrayed, but will give credit where due: at least NutsOnline put that honest warning. Go for the paste, even though you can’t measure it as easily, buy Taza, or find some other way to guarantee that you get the full raw product to enjoy the full raw Cacao experience. Don’t make the same mistake I did!
