Cacao Beans
Details and Where to Buy

Raw Cacao Beans (Updated 1-23-10) make healthy chocolate treats if you have the healthiest ingredients. This is so important that I want to give you more details about them.

Products of the Cacao:

Beans, Nibs or Powder (also known as Cocoa Powder)

Source:

I have found the best cacao beans coming out of Ecuador. There seems to be one importer that provides the best quality. But... don't trust all beans coming from Ecuador. They are definitely not all the same.

See "Where to Buy" further on down this page.

Why Best Value:

• Certified Organic


• Rare and unique species of cacao - Theobroma Aromica. This species has the rich, wonderful chocolate aroma and taste without fermenting, roasting or using chemicals in the processing stages. David Wolfe (founder of Sunfood Nutrition™) was looking for the best cocao bean to bring to the marketplace in it's raw state when he found this particular species in Ecuador.


• Microbe free or negligible - due to the high standard processing procedures that are consistently met.


• Low acidity - helpful when trying to maintain a normal acid alkaline balance. It's common to find other cacao beans with a much higher acid level.


• Certified Lead Free (updated 1-23-10) - I've been calling companies to find out if they have their cacao products tested for heavy metals. The following two companies have reported to me that they are certified as being lead free.

These two companies are the best choice for raw organic cacao products right now. Natural Zing does not indicate that their cacao are the Theobroma Aromica, but they seem to compare in taste and aroma. They are both certified for lead free cacao products.

Sunfood Nutrition™

Natural Zing

Alternatives:

Love Street

I should have results of their heavy metal tests on their chocolate products by February 10, 2010. They have the lowest prices and their quality seems to equal Sunfood and Natural Zing.

Which Do You Choose?

Here's a good comparison of the cacao beans I found on the Sunfood website.

Reference: Sunfood Nutrition™

I have actually seen a product in my health food store showing the actual whole beans inside the package having a see-through window. They looked very similar to the sample on the right.

But... when you buy the nibs, you don't see the whole beans so you have to guess what they looked like before they were broken up. You don't know what you are getting unless the company certifies they are microbe free.

You can do a test with 3 to 5% hydrogen peroxide to see if there are microbes residing on your beans. Just put a couple of beans or a few nibs in a clear glass container. Pour some the hydrogen peroxide on them and see what happens.

I purchased a bag of the whole cacao beans that did not look as bad as the ones on the right hand side, in the picture above. I also had some Sunfood beans on hand. So, I did the test on two of each brand. Sunfood did not have any bubbles. The other beans bubbled immediately. One bean was worse than the other which indicates that the microbe content varies from bean to bean.

It's quite an eye opener. The poor quality beans are not clean looking but the hydrogen peroxide test is the best way to tell.

For More Information:

Facts About Chocolate
Recipe Ingredients
More About Chocolate