Paleo/Primal Chocolate

5/3/2013

I enjoy chocolate, and love all of the health benefits that chocolate possesses. Unfortunately I've run into a catch twenty two when it comes to chocolate: the stuff I like isn't healthy and the stuff that is healthy I'm not thrilled with. Dark chocolate I buy in stores just doesn't do it for me like the Hershey's bars of my childhood. But of course Hershey's bars are not going to do my health any good. So, I decided why not try and make my own chocolate?

Once I got started, I couldn't stop. And after thirty seven recipes I decided to make an eBook out of it. I used 100% pure cocoa powder, grass-fed butter, vanilla extract, and my sweetener of choice, honey. The recipes were delicious and nourishing! I decided to get adventurous and try making goat cheese, sunbutter, and even bacon chocolate. The recipe below is what the top picture is, and is one of my favorites:

Raspberry Ribbon

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey
1/4 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup fresh raspberries

Instructions:

1. Melt butter in medium sauce pan over low heat.
2. Once butter is completely melted, mix in cocoa powder, vanilla extract, sea salt, and honey. Stir constantly until a thick, homogeneous texture is achieved.
3. Stir the chocolate mixture rapidly for another thirty seconds. Be careful not to overcook or the chocolate will burn. Remove from heat.
4. Fold in fresh raspberries.
5. While mixture is still warm spread smoothly over a sheet of wax paper. Let stand until firm. For harder chocolate keep in refrigerator or freezer. Enjoy!

Try the recipe out, I'll be shocked if you don't love it! If you want to learn more about the eBook, check out The Paleo Chocolate Cookbook

9 Comments

Jim

6/22/2013 11:40:26 pm

Unfortunately my Ayurvedic teacher is very clear that eating heated honey is deleterious to health.
A classical Ayurveic text (AcharyaAgnivesha YT, editor. 1st Chapter, commentary for 6th Shloka, Charaka Samhita with Ayurveda Deepika commentary by Chakrapanidatta. 5th ed. Varanasi: Chaukhambha Sanskrit Sansthana; 2001. Agnivesha, Sutra sthana; p. 4.) states something similar to: "heated honey and honey mixed with equal ghee produce deleterious effects in the body and may cause death also..."
A specific study into the effects of feeding rats heated honey found that; ".... heated honey (>140°C) mixed with ghee produces a significant rise in hydroxymethyl furfuraldehyde in 60º and 140°C heated honey samples.which may produce deleterious effects.... and act as a poison in due course" see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3215355/
A bit depressing unfortunately...
Sincerely,
Jim

Ben Hirshberg link

6/23/2013 06:39:47 am

Interesting stuff Jim! Luckily the chocolate is heated over low heat, which shouldn't do too much harm.

In general though, I try not to look at the big picture and not worry too much about the small, nit-picky things when it comes to health. There will always be a study pointing to the potential that thing X is a potential hazard. I try and look at everything together and decide what hazards are significant, and what hazards the human body can handle. It will make you go crazy to try and avoid everything that every study has indicated could be potentially harmful. As Steve Kamb likes to say, don't let perfect get in the way of good!

Sam

6/23/2013 01:28:34 pm

If you do a google search you will find that heated honey being toxic is a fable. Btw, just stumbled onto your blog and really enjoy it.

Ben Hirshberg link

6/23/2013 02:35:40 pm

Hey Sam, thanks for dropping a comment. I appreciate the kind words!

Lyndzey

6/27/2013 04:49:51 am

I was wondering what kind of cocoa powder you use

Ben Hirshberg link

6/27/2013 12:34:49 pm

Hey Lyndzey, I just put up a new page on my chocolate site with ingredient suggestions: http://www.paleochocolaterecipes.com/great-ingredients.html Hope that helps : )

Caseyy

7/22/2013 07:01:47 am

Here's a solution that should satisfy everyone regarding the honey. Heat all the other ingredients, but add the honey last after the mixture is removed from the heat.

Gavin

8/3/2013 07:25:39 pm

Ben, just a question in relation to butter in the recipes. All the paleo food lists I have seen and advice from people who have done paleo diet is that butter is on the no no list. How can your chocolates be regarded as paleo if they have banned ingredients in them ?????
Gavin

Ben Hirshberg link

8/4/2013 06:04:45 am

Hey Gavin, good question! In the pure evolutionary sense, butter is not "paleo." However, because butter has been found to be generally healthy, most ancestral health leaders/writers have embraced it....including the big 3 of Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson, and Chris Kresser:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/guest-post-robb-wolf-answers-your-paleo-diet-questions/#axzz2b1X9TKQL
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/grass-fed-butter/#axzz2b1X9TKQL
http://chriskresser.com/for-a-healthy-heart-stick-to-butter
http://chriskresser.com/have-some-butter-with-your-veggies

On the other hand, if you find butter does not treat your body well, try coconut oil. I started my experimenting with coconut oil and did not like the taste in my chocolate nearly as much. Maybe you won't mind it : )