Confused about Cacao? Let’s break it down into bite-sized chunks…
Ashaninka Ceremonial Cacao chopped up finely.
Image by @jacquelineallen183
Unlike in some of the world’s indigenous communities, most people in western countries don’t grow up regularly consuming cacao as part of their diet and culture. Given its vast number of forms and different processing methods, understanding this delicious superfood can sometimes feel confusing, prompting questions such as what is cacao, where does it come from and what’s the best way to use it? In this blog, we aim to break cacao down into bite-sized chunks, helping you get familiar with the different forms the cacao Goddess takes and the best ways of integrating this beautiful plant medicine into your daily life.
Cacao Pods. Grow on Theobroma cacao trees in warm, Equatorial climates.
But first: cocoa or cacao – what’s in a name?
Our experience is that the words cocoa and cacao are often used interchangeably. However, ‘cocoa’ may typically refer to a powdered chocolate drink that’s often blended with warm milk and contains a number of different ingredients, while ‘cacao’ tends to refer to the pure, raw and unprocessed solid mass which comes directly from the cacao bean (more on this below). Reputedly, the chocolate-loving Victorians found cacao too difficult to pronounce and so they renamed it cocoa! (1)
Cacao Pods. Contain around 40 cacao beans encased in a white jelly-like flesh.
Cacao pods
Cacao pods grow on Theobroma cacao trees in warm, Equatorial climates. They contain the cacao seeds or beans from which all chocolate products originate. The average cacao tree produces between 30-50 pods every year: they typically weigh around 400g each and usually contain around 40 cacao beans encased in a white jelly-like flesh called baba de cacao.
Cacao Beans. The fermentation process removes the white baba flesh, after which the beans can be dried & separated.
Cacao beans
Once a cacao pod has been harvested, it is opened to reveal the white baba flesh with the raw cacao beans nestled inside. At this stage, if the cacao is healthy, the beans will be a pale lavender to dark brown purplish colour, showing that the rich anti-oxidant make-up of the superfood is intact. The cacao beans’ purplish colour is an indicator of its abundant polyphenol content, which is similar to other antioxidant-rich superfoods such as blueberries and wine. In the next stage of the process, the baba and beans are removed from the pods, heaped into boxes or piles, and covered with mats or banana leaves to ferment (2). The fermentation process removes the white baba flesh, after which the beans can be dried and separated from their skins.
Cacao Nibs. This raw material used in every chocolate product you’ve ever seen or eaten!
Cacao nibs
After harvesting, fermenting and drying, the cacao beans are cracked open to produce small, dark pieces known as cacao nibs: the raw material used in every chocolate product you’ve ever seen or eaten! Some cacao nibs are heated, roasted and put under all sorts of processing while others are left as they are: un-roasted cacao nibs are simply called ‘raw’ cacao nibs, and they’re amongst the least processed cacao products on the market. Cacao nibs are very rich in nutrients such as iron, magnesium and zinc, helping with everything from maintaining healthy hormone cycles to reducing stress and improving brain function. They add flavour and texture to granola, porridge or yoghurt, can be baked into cookies and bread, or rolled into energy balls for a delicious dark chocolatey crunch.
Cacao Liquor. Can be separated into butter and solids, or cooled and moulded into blocks of raw cacao.
Cacao mass and liquor
Once the cacao nibs have been extracted from the beans, they are ground into a pure cacao mass. This mass is melted down to become cacao liquor, whose main use is in making chocolate, often with added sugar and cocoa butter. Cacao liquor can either be separated into butter and solids (see below), or cooled and moulded into blocks of raw cacao, which is what we sell here at Ritual Cacao: chunks of pure, raw, ceremonial-grade cacao traded directly from indigenous communities in the Amazon. Our cacao has nothing added and because it is not roasted or heated at high temperatures, all the nutrients from the raw bean remain intact.
Cocoa Butter. The pale-yellow, edible fat extracted from cacao beans.
Image from Healthline
Cocoa butter
Cocoa butter is the pale-yellow, edible fat extracted from cacao beans. It is used to make chocolate as well as toiletries, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Sometimes called Theobroma oil, it represents approximately half of a cacao bean’s weight and gives chocolate its delicious melt-in-the-mouth characteristic (3). Cocoa butter has been revered for centuries as the most magical or noble element of cacao because of its rich health benefits and beautifying properties. It’s the slightly oily sheen or sparkle that you might see swirling on the surface when brewing your cacao! However, if treated with high heat and pressure – which is common during the creation of most mass-produced chocolate bars – the nutritional content and quality of the cocoa butter is usually degraded and may even turn rancid, which may later be masked with sugar, milk powder and vanilla flavouring. Raw cacao butter is the pure, cold-pressed oil of the cacao bean where processing doesn’t exceed 46 degrees Celsius, whilst cocoa butter might undergo some heating during the pressing process (4).
Cocoa Powder
Cocoa solids
Dry cocoa solids are the elements that remain after cocoa butter, the fat is extracted from chocolate liquor. Dry cocoa solids are often powdered and sold as cocoa powder (5).
Raw cacao powder vs cocoa powder
Cacao powder and cocoa powder look and sound very similar. However, raw cacao powder is made by cold-pressing unroasted cocoa beans – a process which keeps the living enzymes in the cacao whilst removing the cacao butter or fat (6). Cocoa powder is the term used for cacao that has been roasted at high temperature, which changes the chemical nature of the bean. This exposure to high temperature lowers the antioxidant capacity and reduces the nutrient density found in the raw, cold pressed cacao (4). Cocoa powder often contains added sugar, dairy and other added ingredients, whilst raw cacao powder is purely made from ground fermented beans that have not been roasted. Raw cacao powder is most commonly used to add a chocolatey flavour to smoothies, breakfasts and deserts and can even be used to make homemade chocolates and DIY face masks.
A delicious cup of Ceremonial Cacao.
Image from @sophia.wild.rose.wellness
In the mood for some cacao?!
We hope this blog has helped you understand cacao’s different forms and processes. Like us, it may also have put you in the mood to make a big chocolatey brew!
If you’re new to cacao and would like to try some raw, organic, ceremonial grade cacao directly traded from indigenous Amazon communities with all its magic and beneficial properties still intact, our new taster pack is for you. It includes 200g of our classic Peruvian Asháninka Tribe Cacao and 200g of our delicious Ecuadorian Tsatsayaku Association Cacao. Shop here to receive our introductory price.
See you soon! With Love & Gratitude,
