Certified Organic Raw Chocolate Nibs

Due to recent documentation about possible negative long-term side effects of eating
raw cacao, Rawganique no longer sells raw cacao in any form.

Organic RAW Cacao Bean Nibs — Theobroma cacao — Certified Organic & Kosher

We no longer carry this product due to possible long-term harmful side effects on human health. For more current information, search the web for articles on the health effects on health of long-term consumption of quantities or raw cacao beans.

Also, it seems that cacao beans that are generally advertised as raw aren't raw at all. Here's a letter from one of the suppliers.

Dear friends, customers and partners of Essential Living Foods,

This is a communication inspired by our need for transparency and integrity with you our beloved partners and allies in the health and superfood nutrition industry.
I would like to share with you information that we have recently uncovered about issues regarding the cacao powder and butter processing from Ecuador and other parts of the world. We have been traveling around the world gathering all of the evidence necessary to make an accurate statement. This is a continuation of our commitment to transparency and revealing true and detailed information about the superfoods we provide to you.

We recently discovered very disappointing news that our cacao powder and butter supplier was misleading us about the “Low Temperature” processing they were using to extract our powder and butter. Fortunately, Essential Living Foods will soon be one of only two companies distributing a TRULY verified RAW cacao butter & cacao powder sourced from Bali Indonesia, pressed under 118 degrees.

The Truth about Cacao Powder and Cacao Butter

A few weeks ago, one of the world’s leading chocolate experts (an old friend of ours) called to let us know he’d been interviewed for an exposé article about the RAW cacao industry. Our friend had been asked to sample all the leading RAW cacao powder and butter brands (including Essential Living Foods) and to give his opinion about which cacao powders and butters were truly RAW products—processed under 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Soon after the taste test, our friend called to warn us that he didn’t think our cacao powder was raw at all. In fact, none of the major brands he tasted could prove that their cacao powder was processed RAW under 120 degrees F. He said there was only one manufacturer (located in Bali) that had developed the machinery necessary to produce a truly cold-pressed, RAW cacao butter and powder.

We were shocked to hear this, since we have a 6-year relationship with our Ecuadorian cacao supplier, and from the beginning they assured us that their cacao butter & powder were RAW, with special temperature-control processes involved.
Because of our commitment to Transparency & Integrity, we had verified nearly everything about our cacao products, visiting farms and cacao-bean-fermentation co-operatives, cacao nib processors, and more over the years. Every facility we ever visited was 100% Raw, Organic, and paying fair-trade wages to its workers...but we had never been invited nor did we demand to visit the butter/powder processing location.

We needed to know the truth for ourselves and our allies so we immediately called our supplier to say that I was flying to Ecuador for a face-to-face explanation. When I arrived, however, our supplier refused to let me inspect their cacao-powder processing facility: shocking behavior from someone we’d worked so closely with over the years. We told them that even though they would not let us see the facility, we would find it and get the full story for ourselves and our customers.
The next day, I took our infrared laser digital-thermometer and flew to the largest cacao-processing city in Ecuador to meet with several processing companies, one of whom turned out to handle our own cacao powder and cacao butter! Though this facility was clean, and certified organic, we found out that they extracted all cacao powder and butter at temperatures no less than 200-300 degrees Fahrenheit!

We all know why this isn’t ideal: heat degrades many nutrients and co-factors in foods, including antioxidants and enzymes. So why would anyone press RAW cacao at these temperatures? Simple: the machines constructed over the years to produce cacao butter and powder around the world create high temperatures to reduce or eliminate microbes.

A Call for Transparency in the Superfood Supply Chain

This experience has inspired us to lead a movement to increase transparency in the superfood industry.
Though certifications like Organic and Fair Trade are important, they don’t say enough about the quality of the food on your plate...or the supply-chain that gets it there. How is your food harvested, processed and transported? Is it carbon-neutral? Is it sold in ecological packaging? Is it RAW? What impact does this product have on local communities?

In closing, we appreciate your efforts to help us create a healthier world through super nutrition, an improved quality of life on small organic farms and indigenous communities and promoting sustainable organic agriculture across planet Earth.

With respect,

Kipp L. Stroden
Co-Owner
Essential Living Foods

Raw Brazil Nut Chocolate Milk Recipe - Serves 2

2 Cups Fresh Coconut Water
4 oz. Raw Brazil Nuts
3 Tbls. Raw Cacao Nibs
2 Tbls. Mesquite Meal
1 Tbls. Maca Powder or Maca Premium
1 Tsp. Non-GMO Lethicin
1 Pinch Natural Sea Salt

Begin by blending the Raw Brazil Nuts with the coconut water. Strain the liquid through a cheesecloth or nut milk bag and save the pulp for another recipe. Next take the strained milk and blend it with the Cacao Nibs, Mesquite Meal, Maca, Lethicin, and Salt. The longer you blend this, the darker and more chocolate looking it gets. Guaranteed to give you great energy for many hours!