I'm a certified chocoholic with a weight problem. I had heard that cacao nibs had all the health benefits of dark chocolate (way more, actually) without the sugar and junk food aspects. They are loaded with antioxidants and have those powerful endorphin releasing stimulants. They are also quite high in fiber (but also in saturated fats).
I got my big pile of Navitas Naturals nibs and dug right in. Well these are a bit of an acquired taste; but once acquired, they really satisfy. Cacao nibs are broken pieces of raw whole cacao beans that have been fermented and dried (and that's it). They are brown, with a dark cocoa smell, and a seductive texture that's partly like a coffee bean (crunchy and hard), and partly like a piece of chocolate (buttery with a crisp and then melting fat). The flavor initially gives you a cocoa hit and then a winey fermented flavor that is hard to describe. The aftertaste is bitter like baking chocolate. Like a coffee bean, there's some fibrous grit with the aftertaste after the creamy fats have dissolved on your tongue. My first impressions was "phew that's disgusting". The winey flavor was off-putting and the bitterness in the aftertaste was hard to take. That didn't prevent me from immediately having more, however as the crisp rich creamy quality made me want more. After a few pinches (maybe 3/4s of a tablespoon) I was flying! I mean, these things are POTENT. They really are loaded with all those endorphin releasing stimulants and man they wake you up and then make you feel loved. Over the next few days I kept a big baggie of these in my pack and ate them whenever I wanted a cup of coffee. The stimulant effect is totally as strong as coffee and more. To go with the speed, there's a feeling of well being and intellectual stimulation that's seductive in the extreme. I began to almost enjoy the odd powerful flavor. My only concerns at this point are whether these are addictive! About 1/2 way through my bag I have yet to hit a stem or a stone or an inedible piece (unlike what I've heard with some other brands). The flavor and texture is pretty consistent as I work my way through too pretty good for a totally raw organic product.
I found that I could grind them up into powder in the blender and use the powder to "cocoa" up various foods (especially ones bearing some sweetness). For example, after my workout I'd put a tablespoon of nibs and a tablespoon of chia seeds in the blender and grind nice and fine and then toss in a fist full of frozen blueberries, a glug of Walden Farms zero calorie chocolate sauce, 8 oz water and two scoops of whey protein powder (chocolate flavor, of course) and then blend. It all whips up into a rich chocolatey blueberry shake that packs the nutritional wallop of a steak dinner with omega 3 oils, TONS of antioxidants, and a wicked emotional and blood sugar pick-me-up. You can buy the powder pre-ground, but I imagine the goodies keep better in this coarsely cracked version.
All in all I think of cacao nibs as much as a drug like coffee as I do a food. People who eat ultra-dark chocolate for the health aspects should absolutely check nibs out because my body tells me they have WAY MORE of the chemical goodies of chocolate with far less sugar and fat. They also are brimming with a rich raw cocoa flavor that's weird and wonderful and hard to describe. If you are bent in this way this stuff is wonderful.
Hello Raw Cacao Lovers!
Here is the real truth about vitamin C (ascorbic acid) content in Raw Cacao:
Despite the trafficked reports circulating the internet, the honest truth remains: even when processed at low temperatures (i.e. "raw"), there is no vitamin C (ascorbic acid) present in cacao.
Recently, highly trafficked websites such as and have highlighted the misinformation of cacao's supposed vitamin C content. Included in these reports are claims that raw cacao is "extraordinarily high in vitamin C."
Back in 2004, our Navitas Naturals lab tests directly looked for vitamin C content in raw cacao, but came up negative. Despite these results, the current media blitz brought us back again for another round of lab testing of our best-selling raw cacao products (beans, nibs and powder) for vitamin C. This time, we used two different laboratories instead of one, and utilized three different analytical methods: High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Capilary Electrophoresis (CE) with UV detection, and Titration.
Though all three methods have their place in the scientific community, Titration is the most commonly used method in the food industry when determining vitamin C (ascorbic acid) content. However, there is a critical detail within the Titration method many companies miss when testing raw cacao. The method of Titration is unable to differentiate the vitamin C (ascorbic acid) from the vitamin's analogs. The result is what is known as a "false positive."
This is why, at Navitas Naturals, we use HPLC when testing raw cacao's vitamin C content. The HPLC method looks directly for vitamin C (ascorbic acid), and not just the analogs. Additionally, after sending samples of our products to another lab to test using the CE method, the reports returned consistent the HPLC results.
We have now also tested one of the largest raw cacao brands in the United States using the Titration and HPLC methods. And yet again the results confirm our previous conclusion that raw cacao has no vitamin C (ascorbic acid) present.
Cacao is a tremendously beneficial superfood, containing a wide spectrum of minerals and phytonutrients. It is important to be clear however, Vitamin C is not amongst these nutrients.
Sincerely,
Zach Adelman, President
Navitas Naturals
Buy Navitas Naturals Cacao Nibs, 16-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 2) Now
This is an awesome deal, but don't purchase these thinking you'll just snack on them because they're so healthy for you...you should make sure you like cacao nibs first. The flavor is intense and something of an acquired taste.
I purchased these to use with the cookbook "Bitter Sweet" by Alice Medrich, which contains a chapter of recipes for cacao nibs and the author talks about ways she tried to use nibs that were a big failure and why...how they are good in cookies, but awful in cream caramel. It even includes some savory recipes, green beans, eggplant, mushroom ragout, pasta sauce. Definitely worth a look if you've got two pounds of these things and don't know what to do with them.
I should note for raw foodies: all those recipes are for cooked foods except one for a salad that is just baby greens, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and cacao nibs, with a suggestion to optionally add a few more items like dried currants, shaved fennel or nicoise olives and/or goat cheese.
Read Best Reviews of Navitas Naturals Cacao Nibs, 16-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 2) Here
I love chocolate, but not the added fat and sugar, so I couldn't wait to try these. They lived up to my expectations. Delicious. When I get the urge to eat a candy bar I roll a banana into these cacao nibs for a delicious and healthy treat. For a yummy cocoa substitute in cookies and cakes I put them in the coffee grinder until powdered. Or just a split second in the coffee grinder makes tiny "chocolate" chips for our smoothies. This is the best chocolate product I've found so far.
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85% was the darkest chocolate I could find until Lindt's new 90% (I think they need to fine-tune it with a version 2.0. It seems a bit rich/gummy) Ghiradelli's 100% bar for baking is smooth, and I can eat, but man, how happy would many of us be with a 95% Dove bar!
Enter Cocoa nibs: Why not "eliminate the middle man" and go straight to the source the cocoa beans themselves? Get the cocoa taste I love so much, but without the processing, added fat, etc. Plus, hey, no processing leaves more of the antioxidents & nutrients.
Day of arrival and I'm excited. I opened them immediately and saw a bunch of nuggets that looked just like chocolate. So, I stuck my nose in the bag, and it wiped the smile right off my face. It smelled sort of musty, and of vinegar. Like bad wine. Eating them proved no better. So, I put them down and tried them later. Again the next day, and so on.
Disappointed is an understatement to say the least. I've got 2 lbs of this stuff and I'm not one to waste food. Did I mention that I'm out $28? What the heck happened? I read that if beans weren't fermented long enough, they could smell like this. I've not compared to other nibs, but thought maybe this is the case. I was looking for that familiar cocoa smell & flavor, yet wasn't finding it. And how strange that there are so few written references to actual flavor and smell!
All ends well. I realized that these are raw (yes, I know, "duh" you say). But, I didn't truly make the connection. Cocoa beans need to be roasted. They WANT to be roasted. And I believe they'll thumb their nose at any purist snob that discredits roasting solely for any "loss of nutritional benefits" (and so will I, so save your comments).
Conclusion: If you haven't yet done so, get crazy and live on the wild side! Place a thin layer on a cookie sheet, then in the oven. I've done two roasts: 350* at 18 minutes and 275* at 15 minutes. I prefer the latter, but experimenting is half the fun. Oh yeah, don't forget to peek inside around the 8 minute mark...smells sort of like warm brownies! Got to go, I've made myself hungry!
We first tried these crackers while wine tasting in upstate New York. The wineries give these to cleanse the palate between tastes and they are terrific! We brought some home and continue to enjoy them with wine, beer and just for snacking too! They are healthier than alot of crackers and have a great distinctive flavor.
