Chocolate Needs to be Eaten Naked

Chocolate needs to be eaten naked! I mean, everyone knows it's the prime gift on Valentine's Day right?

But what I really mean is - chocolate literally needs to be eaten naked - chocolate needs to be understood in its naked state.

“Naked state” foods are different than what most of us consider the taste, definition and properties of those foods in their processed states. And unfortunately, we tend to be more familiar with them in their processed state.

We have lost the ways they were prepared before they became mass produced – plus the real meaning and nutritional value when they were IN their natural state.

Take grains – we have forgotten how to prepare them and we make breads that are hard to digest.

And take sweets…. Look at how nature gives them to us IN SMALL QUANTITIES. Mother Nature doesn’t say no, she just says “enjoy in small amounts”. But humans figured out how to use sweet things in large amounts – and even made some up (the artificial sweeteners), which we even convinced ourselves were even better than what nature made!

… Back to chocolate.

I just finished a course all about real Chocolate. No – it was not about how to play with chocolate candies or cover cakes.

It was about the real history, the real nutrition and how to make real chocolate with superfood add ins.

Chocolate was so important that it was even used as money – right up til the 1800’s. And I find this fascinating…. as money - it could never be hoarded. It would spoil. So money had to keep on moving. It couldn’t be stored in a bank. With chocolate – there were no banks. If money is energy flow – chocolate kept the flow… it was not possible to keep in out of the flow…

Chocolate – real chocolate or in other words cacao – is a bean – really a nut. And it doesn’t have a season – they grow year round, at a slow rate.

Cacao in its naked state needs attention to make it properly – to keep natures nutrients in it. Cacao itself needs to be stone ground for 18 hours. Cacao is broken into two main components: cacao butter and cacao powder. It’s strange really. You split it into two parts then you melt the butter, add the powder and voila! Chocolate.

Did you hear me say add milk ???? No – no you didn’t. Naked chocolate does not have a milk component. In fact, a milk component blocks the tons of good compounds in the chocolate from being absorbed by the body. Now I love real dairy – but it does not belong in chocolate superfoods.

Chocolate was taken out of its naked state by – yup! Mr Hershey and Mr Nestle. They learned to add powdered milk to make milk chocolate and empires were born. But since then, chocolate has not been the super food it that it has the potential to be.

Did you know that cacoa is one of THE most complex foods on earth packed with tons of nutrients? Real chocolate is said to be heart food… there is more to all that story about chocolate as a food for lovers.

What is its REAL purpose? According to David Wolfe* – the superfoods guru – it is to deliver superfoods.

Making real chocolate is extremely simple!

I bought what was supposed to be a really good chocolate bar. But it still had soy and other ingredients that I could not say or identify. If you don’t want any nebulous ingredients, homemade is always the better way to go. Plus you can add love – it’s an actual frequency that probably is not in there if it’s made in a factory.

Melt cacao butter, add a little natural sweetener and a pinch of salt. Then add the same amount of cacao powder (as the butter) – boom! You have chocolate.

Now – go back to before you added the two main components together. Add powered superfoods, nuts or other wonderful things to the cacao before you mix it with the butter.

Cool! you just made a chocolate that is fit for the gods!

For more about the superfoods, the history of real chocolate and what you can do with real chocolate join my Chocolate can be Super.

There are unlimited variations of addins!

So come play with your food, and your chocolate in my Old World Kitchen – and

Stay Nourished,

Chef Cathy

Classes are both onsite and by video. Don’t miss the monthly calls on both cooking classes and Nutritional Energetics.

See them at www.nourishing9d.com

• *David Wolfe wrote a book called Naked Chocolate – a real look at real chocolate.