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Post by susan on May 1, 2008 13:06:29 GMT -5
Hi all ~ I'm trying to work with raw cocoa and have found it to be gritty and bitter. Any suggestions? Thanks! Susan
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Post by Alan on May 1, 2008 13:20:39 GMT -5
Hi all ~ I'm trying to work with raw cocoa and have found it to be gritty and bitter. Any suggestions? Thanks! Susan You have three options that I can see, and you probably won't be content with any of them: 1) Get used to the bitter and harsh flavor of raw chocolate, opting for cacao with the best fermentation rate that you can find, and that has more Criollo parentage than not. 2) Add so much sweetener and raw cocoa butter that it defeats the purpose of keeping the cacao raw in the first place (assuming that you are doing it for health reasons--i.e., more polyphenol antioxidants in the raw product) 3) Roast it until it tastes good One last note: Almost no cacao that has been fermented will meet the definitions of raw found online. The fermentation temp gets quite high at times, and during fermentation and drying most of the enzymes are destroyed, as well as a goodly portion of the polyphenols. If you really want it raw, you'll have to go to a cacao orchard and eat the raw beans off the tree; Beware, however, aside from the pulp on the outside of the seeds, the seeds themselves will taste even more bitter and harsh than your "raw" chocolate. I hope that this helps in some way.
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Post by seneca on May 1, 2008 16:12:33 GMT -5
I want to second what Alan said above--in my experience I've never visited a fermentary where batches stayed under 120F, and so realistically anyone working with dried fermented cacao isn't actually dealing with a product that meets any definition I've seen of 'raw' foods.
Dealing with cacao on any legitimately raw level probably means refocusing on the fruit pulp as the target, rather than the seed. This is certainly done quite often in the form of fresh juice (notably in Brazil and Nicaragua), and I'm sure some really interesting possibilities are there for the taking.
Personally, I just don't see the value in trying to force the issue and create chocolate simulacra from unroasted fermented cacao, when the real thing is already so wonderfully complex and interesting.
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Post by gotkosherinc on May 12, 2012 4:29:37 GMT -5
One day down the raw foodstuff path, you find out demon Chocolate has left ... Falconoid protect us from free radical that injure blood vessel
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Post by telstar on Nov 25, 2023 15:11:43 GMT -5
100% criollo is not that bitter and gritty at all.
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