The Cocoa Shop

18/08/2024

Schau ma moi, dann seng ma scho

27/11/2023

What Sharon say.

27/11/2023

Cardamom knots in the make.

04/07/2023

For chocolate to be considered truly RAW (a food that hasn’t been exposed to temperatures higher than 40-45°C), here is what it takes:

🫘 Starting from unfermented cacao beans

☢️ Finding a sanitization/depuration process to kill pathogenic elements

🔥 Skipping the roasting process OR keeping it short and at low temperatures

🌡 Refining the cacao nibs at a controlled temperature

🚫 Skipping the conching process

Based on these requirements, let’s see why 99,99% of chocolate brands that claim to be “RAW” might not be raw at all:

1) Finding unfermented cacao beans on the market is rather impossible.

Cacao beans are fermented to develop the typical chocolate flavor we all know and enjoy. During this process, temperatures easily surpass the 40-45°C limit. Since fermented cacao beans are the industry standard, if chocolate makers want to buy unfermented or under-fermented cacao beans, they will have to establish direct partnerships at origin with farmers willing to put aside this type of cacao just for them. The reality is that farmers can rarely cater to small chocolate makers’ needs and demands 🤌🏻

2) It takes many extra efforts to produce a fully raw chocolate.

Raw chocolate is an even bigger commitment and hustle than producing regular chocolate because of all the extra requirements mentioned above. How many companies are realistically doing all that? 🤔

3) There are no ways to keep companies accountable on their claims.

Consumers have no practical tools to distinguish between a true raw chocolate that followed all the protocols and one that didn’t. Unless the brand continuously shows the behind the scenes of the process and provides a lot of nerdy details, consumers can only trust what they are told 🤷🏻‍♀️

The legit raw chocolate brands in existence (probably 1 in 1000) will shower you with a lot of info just to distinguish themselves from the crowd, and will most likely be crafted directly in the countries of origin. But most of the "raw" chocolate on the western market is just regular chocolate made with lightly roasted or unroasted cacao beans.

Ultimately, can an inherenthly processed food like chocolate EVER be called RAW? 🤔

30/12/2022

24/11/2022

In der Dezember-Ausgabe der findet ihr noch einige weihnachtliche Accessoires, die sich rechtzeitig vor dem Fest ordern lassen. So wird die Vorfreude auf die Weihnachtszeit nicht getrübt. Das Start-up-Porträt Dein Kakao und das Interview mit Organisator:innen der Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 lassen sich am besten mit einer heißen Tasse Tee und leckeren Weihnachtskeksen lesen.

10/11/2022

03/11/2022

Soon: Thwaites-Glacier-Mints
100% of the revenues will go to help reducing the negative effects of carbohydrates.

30/10/2022

Macarons mit Lemoncurd,
erster Versuch.