{"id":5933,"date":"2019-03-21T12:29:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T11:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/?p=5933"},"modified":"2020-01-27T09:09:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T08:09:04","slug":"truth-raw-cacao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/truth-raw-cacao\/","title":{"rendered":"Eye on Ingredients: The Raw Truth About Raw Cacao"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raw cacao: the most delicious and most controversial raw ingredient. The internet is buzzing with differing facts about chocolate, and to be honest, there is a lot of misleading information about the benefits of cacao. So in this article, I want to put the spotlight on raw cacao, to see if it’s actually good for us. Dark chocolate (70% cacao) has been proven to have many health benefits1<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0\u2013 but there are a lot of question marks surrounding the trend of \u201craw\u201d cacao.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The meaning of “raw”<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n

The new trend of selling \u201craw\u201d food products has led to all sorts of advertisements using the label \u2018raw\u2019. And yet, it should be made clear that there are no legal standards for raw goods. Even among the raw food community, the only rule that\u2019s typically followed is that low heating can be used. And that definitely makes me question certain types of food \u2013 especially raw cacao.<\/p>\n

Even the ancient cultures that have cacao running deep in their culinary ancestry didn’t eat it raw. They understood & undertook the process of fermentation \u2013 even roasting the cacao beans.<\/p>\n

raw cacao vs. cocoa<\/h2>\n

Well… same same \u2013 but also different. Apart from the vowel placement, another difference between the two is whether heating is used or not. As mentioned, raw refers to the unheated method of cooking \u2013 whereby the temperature doesn’t exceed higher than 43\u00b0C or 118\u00b0F; in this case, the beans would not be roasted. Thus would \u201craw\u201d cacao usually be a cold-pressed, un-roasted form of the cacao bean, \u2013 keeping the live enzymes intact and staying abundant in minerals like zinc, magnesium & calcium.<\/p>\n

That makes \u201ccocoa\u201d the roasted form of raw cacao \u2013 and once it\u2019s roasted, the nutritional value decreases. This processing stage changes the molecular structure of the cacao bean, reducing the enzyme count while lowering the nutritional & beneficial factors.<\/p>\n

So, then it’s understandable why raw cacao has become so hyped up, right?<\/p>\n

The downfall of raw cacao<\/h2>\n

Whilst it may seem that raw cacao is the definite ‘go-to’ choice, there is a grey area that shouldn’t be ignored. According to the National Confectioners Association (based in the U.S.), raw\/un-roasted cacao beans are susceptible to bacteria & other forms of contamination; the heating\/roasting process is actually what destroys that bacteria.<\/p>\n

Over half of the microbes that contribute to fermentation also create mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are tiny fungi that contaminate food, unseen to the naked eye. Removing the roasting process (as with raw cacao) means the mycotoxins \u2013 aflatoxin & ochratoxin being prime examples \u2013 will remain present2<\/sup><\/a>. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO)3<\/sup><\/a>, consuming them can have the following effects on your body:<\/p>\n