Cacao is the single richest source of theobromine of any food in the world. Theobromine is a naturally occurring stimulant belonging to the same chemical family as caffeine, but it lasts longer than caffeine and makes us less nervous.
Cacao has been a much appreciated food for centuries, even the Mayas and Aztecs were enchanted by the taste and effect of cacao. However, while they were still brewing a rather bitter and spicy drink from the cacao beans, it was not until sugar was added that cacao became a popular luxury drink in Europe.
When consuming cacao powder, be aware that many cacao blends are loaded with sugar. Natural cacao, on the other hand, contains only about one percent sugar.
Our unsweetened cacao powder is made from the flavorful cacao Nacional beans and comes from our partner in Ecuador (Hacienda Limon), which focuses especially on this flavor of the beans.
The cacao powder can be used hot and cold and is suitable for both refreshing drinks and baking. Personally, we prefer to drink our cacao pure, dissolved in water and unsweetened. As an alternative to refined sugar, we use birch sugar or coconut sugar.
The delicious powder is good for our soul and will make even the most stressful day a little easier. This is thanks to certain substances in cacao that have a mood-lifting effect on us humans.
How is cacao powder made?
Cacao is the most important raw material for the production of chocolate. However, the cacao beans found in the fruit of the cacao tree do not yet have the typical sweet taste that we know from foods containing cacao. This is due to the fact that the fruits still contain a relatively large amount of bitter compounds.
This makes the journey from the cacao bean to the finished cacao powder a long process.
- The harvested cacao fruits are opened, after which the pulp begins to ferment.
- The alcohol produced in this process causes the seeds to stop germinating and thus lose some of their bitterness. In total, this process takes about ten days.
- The cacao beans are then dried and shipped to chocolate-producing countries.
- Here, the beans are first processed into a cacao mass and later into cacao butter and cacao powder.
- In the manufacturing process of cacao powder, the fat is first separated from the cacao mass. The cacao beans contain up to 54 percent of cacao butter. The cacao mass is pressed against stainless steel sieves with microscopically fine holes. With increasing pressure of up to 900 bar (1 bar = 1 Kp/cm2), the golden-yellow, clear cacao butter starts to pour out. The duration of pressing depends on how much fat is to remain in the pressing residue and consequently also in the cacao powder. Depending on the fat content, a distinction is made between highly deoiled cacao powder (with less than 20% cacao butter in the dry mass) from highly deoiled press cake and cacao powder from low-deoiled press cake.
- After the cacao butter has been pressed off, a remainder of solid cacao components remains in the pressing chambers of the cacao press: the cacao press cake. It is the starting product for the production of cacao powder. First, machines crush the hard cakes into hazelnut-sized pieces before they enter the pulverizing plant and become wonderfully fine cacao powder.
We at laflor have dared to swap coffee for cacao and drink it unsweetened and with hot water instead of milk. Very simple, satisfying and just sooo delicious!