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Which raw cacao nibs do you use…anyone…?
I’ve tried the Navitas Naturals before and although they are good. I LOVE David Wolfe’s sunfood ones. They are more hard to find but when i make recipes I see a difference in taste. Cocao Power I also use DW’s in the big bottles. I love the taste and it seems to last me longer then the Navitas Naturals Cocoa Power.. It’s more expensive but the jars are great when you finish the whole container!
I have both as well. I think the Navitas is good, but the other one has a sweeter taste. I bought mine at www.naturalzing.com as it’s cheaper. I think DW’s and their’s are from the same company. However Navitas is half the price on amazon and almost as good. So… it’s up to you! :)
Thanks everyone :)
Yuna,
Do you mean that the Ultimate Raw Foods brand is sweeter than Navitas or DW’s is sweeter than Navitas? Thanks :)
Rawmama, could you put the link to the web site you want to buy the ultimate raw foods cacao powder from? I think it may be the same that DW sells. A lot of times different companies buy and repackage the same product under their own name.
I found some sites for ultimate raw foods cacao powder and yes, it uses the same advertising words as David Wolfe and www.naturalzing.com use which tells me that they buy this and repackage it.
Cacao powder is what is left after the fat/butter is extracted from the cacao beans.
This is different from ground cacao nibs which are intact, fat/butter and everything still in one piece.
Maybe one is ground cacao and one is cacao powder and that’s why the nutiritonal values are so different?
Interesting! I had a choice to buy either one locally, both bags/brands had already been purchased from Alissa Cohen’s site (or that is what I was told)...I decided to go with the Ultimate Raw foods Cacao Powder…I called their site and the guy I spoke to said that theirs was from the best cacao beans, and he mentioned a site that used to carry Navitas, and they had dropped all those products to be replaced by the Ultimate products. I figured that maybe the higher fat would for some reason be more creamy…sooooooo I do wonder if it isn’t the same as DWs Yuna :)...good and interesting point! And maybe it is as you said Zoe, fat/butter/everything in tact meaning higher numbers in the nutritional facts.
I’ve been using the Navitas – I actually get it from Amazon.com, surprizingly.
i get cocao nibs and goji’s from Amazon. total of 3.5 lbs. for under $50 (free shipping and it only takes about 5 days to deliver).
cocao: http://www.amazon.com/Navitas-Naturals-Organic-...
goji: http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Nectars-Tibetan-B…=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=grocery&qid=1200064782&sr=1-1
Amazon does sell DW Chocolate. This is the one I love! Have not compared price and shipping amount to buying it directly from DW’s site…
Check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Raw-Chocolate-Pow…=pd_bbs_sr_10?ie=UTF8&s=gourmet-food&qid=1200143760&sr=8-10
if eating cacao helps you stay raw and it’s a delicious comforting treat, that is great. but i’d just go with whichever one tastes better or is cheaper instead of basing it on the nutritional value. i know an entire book was written about how good it is for you, but i believe it’s all just hype. here’s a short interesting article about cacao.
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/blog/?s=cacao
I make an organic and a raw organic chocolate syrup for commercial sales and tried about 20 different cacao powders when i was working on the recipe. None, including the powders mentioned above compare to the powder offered by Essential Living Foods (and holy kakow now). They have the best price, are truly raw and have a mild flavor with just a hint of the bitterness that is inherent to cacao.
Zoe is totally correct that cacao powder is what’s left after the fat is extracted from the nibs. The fat content varies from powder to powder depending on the process used to extract the butter: Most raw powders sit at about 14% fat. The other nutrients should be fairly consistent. The calorie content for 1 Oz at 180 sounds very high. The raw powders I’ve used have an average of 120 calories per 2 Oz. serving.
I have only used 2 varieties of cacao powder, Navita’s Naturals, which caused me to have terrible insomnia and Sunfood Nutrition, which i am able to eat with my frozen bananas at night no problem. I don’t know the difference, but while ago the raw chef at our potluck explained that sometimes the lesser expensive brands of cacao have small pieces of shell??? and most of the caffeine is in the shell so that is why it affected me so negatively. Again, I have no idea if this is accurate, but I just stick with the big brown jug.
I love Sunfood (DW’s), but Navita Naturals cacao made me sick/gassy & gave me PMS/cramps like regular heated chocolate used to do. When I eat enough of the Sunfood brand cacao, I don’t get PMS or cramps AT ALL. If I ever have any PMS symptoms, eating some Sunfood cacao gets rid of it.
I love the taste of the Ultimate Raw Foods Brand. Also, wouldn't more fat equal less processing? Just a thought...