Product description:
Enjoy Organic Cocoa Powder Every Day
Do you love a cup of hot cocoa to lift your mood on a troubling day? If so, you’ll definitely be glad to know that this drink can actually be very good for you. Organic Cocoa Powder from Food To Live is a top-quality product that doesn’t contain any harmful additives. Therefore, it brings you all the benefits of an antioxidant mix contained in cocoa beans.
People have been enjoying the fruits of the cocoa tree for thousands of years. The plant is native to South America and the locals have been cultivating it as far back as 1500 BC. Today, the fruits of the tree are processed and used in a great number of ways. Some of the products made from them include raw cocoa nibs, cocoa butter, cocoa bean extract, and cocoa powder. Organic and unsweetened, this product is very good for you if consumed in moderation. It’s rich in minerals and various beneficial phytonutrients.
How Does Cocoa Plant Become Cocoa Powder?
The process of creating our Organic Cocoa Powder starts with harvesting cacao beans. Food To Live works with farmers who use organic and environmentally-friendly agricultural practices. Therefore, all our products are safe and free from dangerous pesticides, nitrates, and other toxic chemicals.
After harvesting the cocoa beans, they are processed using heat to destroy any bacteria and prepare them for powdering. After this, the beans are ground into the fine organic cocoa powder you can enjoy in various recipes.
Cocoa Vs. Cacao: Is There a Difference?
‘Cacao’ and ‘cocoa’ powders differ in more than spelling and those differences really matter if you want to understand the health effects of both foods.
First of all, both products are made from the same cacao beans and both are good for you. The things that are not the same about them are price, taste, and nutritional value.
Cacao powder is made with the minimal processing of beans. As such, it’s the most expensive, bitter, and antioxidant-rich variety of chocolate you can find. It’s the ultimate mix of all that’s good in this food.
Cocoa powder is made using a short-term exposure of beans to extreme heat. It’s more affordable and better-tasting. The good news is that cocoa beans contain so many antioxidants and other valuable nutrients that the powder retains a large amount of them even after the heat treatment. Therefore, organic cocoa powder is a bit less nutritious than cacao, but still exceptionally good for you. It also keeps better due to the treatment.
However, beware of sweetened hot cocoa mixes and similar products, as well as Dutch cocoa powder. Those often contain sugar, milk, and other additives that reduce the nutritional value and are decidedly not good for you. Dutch cocoa is alkalized to improve the product’s taste. This process reduces its nutritional value to the minimum, so it’s not as good as natural powders even when it’s unsweetened.
Does Cocoa Powder Have Caffeine?
Cocoa powder does contain some caffeine, but the amount of it is much smaller when compared to coffee and even green tea. An average cup of hot cocoa contains about 8 mg of the element, while a cup of coffee, depending on the brewing technique, might have almost 200 mg. Even green tea, the so-called healthiest of the caffeinated drinks holds up to 50 mg in a single 8-ounce cup.
However, no matter how minimal the caffeine level in hot cocoa, it’s still enough to give a highly sensitive person a small boost of energy. Keep this in mind if you plan on drinking it before sleep. You also need to remember that the exact amount of caffeine in your dishes and drinks will depend on how much cocoa powder you use.
Is Cocoa Powder Vegan?
Food To Live Organic Cocoa Powder is indeed perfectly vegan. As it’s made from the fruits of the cocoa plant, it doesn’t contain any dairy or other animal products. We guarantee that none of our products are contaminated with any non-vegan elements.
However, some hot cocoa mixes you can buy today do contain powdered milk. Be sure to read the labels carefully to avoid these products.
You can use cocoa powder and raw organic cocoa butter to make 100% vegan chocolate. This type of butter is also dairy-free and can be used as a substitute for regular butter in recipes where its mildly sweet flavor won’t be an issue.
Is Cocoa Powder Gluten-Free?
Cocoa powder doesn’t contain any gluten and can be used in any gluten-free baking recipe.
Gluten is a protein present in several types of grains, so there is no risk of cocoa powder containing any traces of it if the product is processed properly.
Organic Cocoa Powder: Benefits
Organic cocoa powder benefits come from numerous phytonutrients contained in the fruits of the cocoa tree. This product is a cocktail of potent antioxidants that can rejuvenate your body and boost your general wellbeing.
It also contains a huge amount of dietary fiber. In fact, a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder holds 100% of the daily recommended dose of fiber for an adult. Therefore, adding it to your food is a great way to support and promote digestive health.
The same amount of organic cocoa powder (unsweetened) also contains almost 17 grams of protein. This means it’s a good ingredient for bodybuilders and other athletes, who need to get as much protein as possible in their diet.
Cocoa Powder Organic Unsweetened: Nutrition Data
Aside from being a great source of valuable nutrients, organic cocoa powder also provides you with small doses of essential vitamins and minerals, including:
The level of iron is quite high. A cup of unsweetened organic cocoa powder has over 65% of the daily recommended dose for an adult (11.9mg). Vegans will benefit greatly from including this product in their daily meals.
Is Cocoa Powder Fattening?
Organic cocoa powder can be fattening only if you eat too much of it in one go. However, it’s not the kind of product that can be consumed as is. So the risk of overindulging is fairly low.
A cup of cocoa powder (unsweetened) contains about 196 calories and 11 grams of fat. This means that adding a few spoonfuls to a smoothie or sauce won’t make much of a difference to your daily calorie consumption.
Organic Cocoa Powder: Recipes
Organic cocoa powder can be used in a great number of recipes and not all of them are desserts and confections. First of all, this ingredient will allow you to make an affordable and healthier alternative to Starbucks cocoa. You can even make it vegan by using almond or soy milk as a base for the drink.
The easiest way to get your daily cocoa fix is to add 1-2 spoonfuls of it into a smoothie. It tastes best with banana and avocado creamy mixes. However, you can also include it in smoothies with nut milk and various fruits. It’ll definitely make a protein shake taste better and even up its amino acids content a bit, so bodybuilders can enjoy cocoa powder as well.
Aside from making incredible organic hot cocoa, you can apply this culinary ingredient in various sauces and baking recipes. If you are a meat eater, chocolate sauce with cranberries will be a fantastic addition to pork. Vegans and vegetarians can enjoy the mix of sweet and sour flavors using cocoa powder in various Asian recipes as well as chili.
Cocoa powder is a premier ingredient for baking. You can either mix it with flour to make chocolate dough or make your own chocolate to use as a substitute for chips in recipes of muffins, buns, pancakes, etc. Cocoa sugar cookies are one of the most delicious things one can find. Both kids and adults love them, so you should try making some for the next holidays to go with some mint cocoa and marshmallows.
You can even use this organic powder to make some cocoa whipped cream. It would make an incredible topping for cupcakes and cakes in general.
How to Use Cocoa Powder for Beauty
Organic cocoa powder can find applications not only in your kitchen. If you are fond of homemade cosmetics, it’ll be a great addition to various scrubs and masks. Due to the high content of antioxidants, it’ll help brighten and strengthen your skin.
Cocoa beans extract is widely used in the cosmetics industry, and even cocoa butter is often applied to the face as a replacement for cream. However, this only works for very dry skin as the product is too greasy for oily and often even normal skin.
Masks and scrubs with organic cocoa powder, on the other hand, fit any skin type, even the most sensitive. In fact, the latter can benefit due to the anti-inflammatory properties of the product.
Gluten-Free Vegan Brownies with Cocoa Powder
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Let the brownies cool before eating. Slice them into squares and store in the fridge for up to a week. However, the treat is so delicious, you’ll most likely finish them right away, especially if you have kids. Be aware that this recipe is relatively high in calories due to chocolate and syrup, so it’s very filling.
Any dark bitter chocolate with a high percentage of cacao is vegan. You can check the label to make sure.
You can adapt the flavor of the brownies as well as their fat and calorie contents by experimenting with different types of gluten-free flours and dairy-free milk.
Cocoa Powder (Organic, Unsweetened): Storage Guide
Like all powdery substances, Organic Cocoa Powder from Food To Live is extremely sensitive to humidity. It’s imperative to make sure it remains completely dry at all times. This means that you have to store it in an airtight container and only use dry utensils when measuring out a part of it to use for cooking.
Another necessary storage requirement for raw cocoa powder is to keep it out of direct sunlight. Heat and light both speed up the natural deterioration processes that reduce the nutritional value of the product.
If you keep your Food To Live Organic Cocoa Powder bulk pack in a cool, dark, and dry place, it can remain good for years. To extend its shelf life, put it in the fridge. You can even freeze an unopened package and it’ll remain as good as new indefinitely. However, these products don’t take well to refreezing.
Organic cocoa powder has a pleasant but subtle natural aroma. However, it absorbs smells from the outside really fast, as all powders do. Therefore, you should always keep it away from spices and other strong-smelling products.
As it contains only a small amount of fats, cocoa powder doesn’t go bad. Its nutritional value will reduce slowly as the years pass because of the natural deterioration of vitamins and minerals.
WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.