Raw Chocolate Truffles

Last winter, as part of a holiday appreciation gift to our practice members, we purchased a large volume of locally-made, fair-trade, organic chocolates. The chocolate was a big hit with our clients and it got me thinking… can I make the chocolate for this year’s gift?

I look back on this idea now and find it humourous that I thought “Oh, I’ll just make delicious, smooth and creamy chocolate from scratch.  How hard can it be?”

Through a lot of trial and error, I learned that making chocolate is pretty hard. To do it well you also need a chocolate melanger to properly grind the chocolate ingredients which gives it that smooth, creamy feeling in your mouth. Not to mention, there is a precise science to get the chocolate to temper (harden) properly. No wonder people go to school for years to become Chocolatiers!

Sharing the pain of my initial failures, a friend of mine gave me the idea to try making truffles instead.  Low and behold, without too much trial and error I managed to make these incredible chocolate treats! It does take some time to make these goodies, especially if you do the tempered chocolate coating, however the result is both nutritious and delicious.  It’s also really nice and feels really good to know exactly what the ingredients are and where they’re coming from.

For Rob and I, this is guilt-free chocolate and we will continue to enjoy these throughout the year! Be sure to check out the recipe notes for info on how to save time and gain some insight into the somewhat finicky process of making these amazing truffles.

As much as possible, we do our best to buy local, organic, ethically and sustainably sourced whole foods. It can be pricey to buy such ingredients but when we assemble the ingredients ourselves we can make high quality chocolate at a reasonable price.

Raw cacao powder is an excellent source of antioxidants. It’s also a good source of protein, potassium, zinc and a very good source of dietary fiber, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and manganese. We use fair-trade, organic cacao powder made by Giddy Yo . You could also use cocoa powder in this recipe. Cacao powder (note the spelling) is made from raw cacao beans whereas cocoa powder is made from roasted cacao beans (cocoa beans) and is also more processed. Cacao powder preserves more of the wonderful nutrients available from the cacao bean!

Cacao butter is the fat that’s extracted from cacao beans.  Cacao butter is very healthy if consumed in moderation. This 100% vegan fat is a great addition for those who are on a plant-based diet and/or are trying to consume more healthy, saturated fats. It’s full of fatty acids like oleic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid which are antioxidants that fight free radicals. Antioxidants help lower inflammation in the body and support the immune system. Many people consider cacao a superfood for all these reasons. Its fats help to boost neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine (the happy brain chemicals) and also help to balance hormones. It’s also a good source of magnesium, iron, zinc and Vitamin E. The cacao butter we used was also sourced from Giddy Yo .

While we may not be able to call honey a ‘health food’ we like to use it and other natural sugar in place of refined sugar in our diet. For one, honey is less processed and more of a whole food. Honey also has a somewhat lower glycemic index than refined sugar, which means it has a gentler effect on our pancreas and insulin levels (which act to regulate blood sugar in the body). High quality honey — which is minimally processed, unheated, and fresh — contains many important bioactive plant compounds and antioxidants, such as flavonoids and phenolic acids. Researchers have found that honey may increase levels of adiponectin, a hormone that reduces inflammation and improves blood sugar regulation (1 – A Review on the Protective Effects of Honey against Metabolic Syndrome ). It’s also a potent prebiotic, meaning it nourishes the good bacteria that live in the intestines, which are crucial not only for digestion but overall health.

Some people find that eating local honey can have a positive impact on seasonal allergic reactions. The idea here is that consuming small amounts of local honey can help the body more effectively process these substances found in our environment. Local bees consume pollen from local plants, some of which ends up in the honey. Eating some local, raw, unpasteurized honey each day (approximately a teaspoon) could help the body develop a more effective and efficient response, having a positive effect on your allergies. Although, these results haven’t been consistently duplicated in clinical studies, many people we know have observed this benefit for themselves.  Is it placebo? Who knows, but honey is delicious!

We’ve sourced our local honey from @twissfarms our friends’ organic farm in Burlington.