Sunday was Rabbie Burns Night and in honour of the great Bard and my first ever Burns Night Supper, I decided to make some whiskey inspired raw chocs. They were super easy to make, I just followed the Simple Raw CHOC Recipe http://www.chocchick.com/simple-raw-choc-recipe-917-0.html and simply added chopped walnuts to the moulds and wee drams of whiskey to the mix. I of course had to keep tasting the whiskey to make sure it was of the highest quality (essentialy quality control of course :-)) and the day passed with a lovely and pleasant amber hue. We went to my fabulous neighbours Maggie and Bea’s house and had the most wonderful evening. Lots of wine, whiskey and 2 amazing haggis pipped in and stabbed ceremoniously by Stevie, our Scottish neighbour. It was my first proper Burn’s Night and I now can’t wait for next year! Whiskey and raw chocolates, the absolutely perfect combination.
I feel really proud. I love chatting to my raw chocolate ingredients suppliers. They are an ethical company that imports healthy products from South America and Africa and have a wonderful and ethical attitude to business. I found them through a recommendation and the more I find out about their business practices, the happier I am to be working with them. During my last chat to them this week, I wanted to find out a bit more about my raw cacao and raw cacao butter suppliers in Ecuador. It turns out that my UK suppliers work directly with the growers and farmers in Ecuador to ensure working conditions are of a fair and high standard and that no pesticides or harmful agrochemicals are used in the growth, harvest or packaging of the products they import.
I simply asked my suppliers a few questions and found out a lot of interesting information. I found out that the raw cacao powder and raw cacao butter I use in my CHOC Chick Kits are grown by a fair trade, family run business in Ecuador. I found out that their business is an integral part of the community, that they look after all their workers and make a point of hiring single mothers, who find it particularly hard to find work in Ecuador. I also found out that all workers are given free food which includes organic, pesticides free rice and flour. And the best thing I found out is their name. This community business is run by Santiago and Carla and I feel very proud to be a small part in this ethical supply chain.
Raw chocolate is incredibly easy to make (especially if you have a CHOC Chick Kit). Here is our simple Raw CHOC Recipe to help you on your way.
CHOC Chick Raw Chocolates
Ingredients:
100g Raw cacao butter
4tbs Raw cacao powder
2-3tbs Agave syrup (or to taste)
1-2tsp Vanilla bean extract
Ice cube trays or moulds
Raw Chocolate Making Directions
70g of powder (4tbs) and 100g of butter makes approximately 32 chocolates (16 chocolates per siicone mould).
Gently melt the cacao butter over a bowl of hot water (do not overheat or you will damage the nutritional benefits of the raw chocolate). Add the cacao powder, approx 2tbs of agave syrup and vanilla bean extract, whisk well and remove from heat.
Spoon into moulds (try adding nuts and dried fruit to the moulds before spooning in the raw chocolate mixture, my favourite fruit n nut mix is cranberry and macadamia nuts)
Leave to set in the fridge for 1 - 2 hours or 20-30 minutes in the freezer.
Get CHOCCreative and add different liquors, essences and spices to the warm chocolate mix (a teaspoon of chilli powder makes fantastic chilli chocs).
As this is my first ever blog, it might be a good idea to explain to everyone why I left a pretty secure and fairly interesting job, working with really lovely people, to set up my own small business at home (on my own!). Well, it all started in January 2008 when I met up with a good friend, who had been seriously ill. We went to see a film together (it was actually the first grown up, non-animated children’s film I had seen in about 5 years) and had dinner afterwards. We talked about her health issues and how she had been told by doctors and nutritionists that she could no longer eat sugar, gluten, dairy foods and of course chocolate. Not being able to eat chocolate was probably the worst one until she discovered she could eat raw chocolate and easily make it herself.
I’d mentioned that having grown up in South America, I really missed the taste of pure chocolate and although I ate far too much commercially processed chocolate, I still craved the taste of the chocolate you find in Venezuela or Argentina. So, I went round to her house the next day and tried her home made raw chocs, they were absolutely divine. They totally transported me back to my childhood.
It was the taste that got me, way before I realised that they were also incredible health benefits to raw cacao. Those who know me, know that I love to enjoy life and for me that include a life full of great food (that my lovely husband cooks!), good wine, lots of music, singing my heart out and being surrounded by wonderful friends and family. I’ve never been a slim person and do tend to overindulge in the things I love, so to discover something delicious that was actually good for me was truly life enhancing.
And that’s why I set up CHOC Chick. I have a real need to share the things that make me happy in the hope that it will make others happy too. Having been immersed in raw chocolate making for a year now, I have not only discovered the pleasure of making delicious treats but have experienced the health benefits as well. I’ve lost weight, my skin looks fantastic (if I may say so myself) and I generally feel happy. I still have a way to go on the weight front, but having hit 40 and now almost hitting 42, I’ve come to realise (wish I’d known this when I was in my early 20 and 30’s) that if you are happy and feel good inside, you really do look good as well.
So for me the raw chocolate business is about enjoying life and being happy. Happy in what you do, happy in what you eat and happy about how you look. Hope I can spread this happiness and share the love of raw chocolate!
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