Indigo Herbs are all about healthier lifestyles, healthy eating, superfoods and food for vegans. We were recently asked to try out one of their raw chocolate making kits. We are not a vegan family but we all love our chocolate treats so of course we agreed and then this box arrived.
The kits start from £19.99 and contain all the ingredients needed to make our own "pure raw chocolate"
Raw chocolate is more healthier than the milk alternatives. Being a food suitable for vegans does mean no milk or dairy products are used. Therefore the finished chocolate is dark, stronger cocoa percentage and slightly more bitter than regular chocolate but it stlll tastes good.
Have you ever wondered what gives good chocolate that wonderful chocolate smell? Well it's all down to this stuff!
This being our melting organic cacao butter, it is known by other names too including cocoa butter and kakaw. From the moment I opened the packet I could instantly smell chocolate. This butter is 100% pure natural cacao derived straight from the cacao plant. It is one of the main ingredients in most chocolate products and is the ingredient which makes chocolate smell so good.
The butter is like small lumps of rock to begin with, it needs melting down to liquid and slowly too or the nutrients will be destroyed if heated too fast. Once melted we added the packet of raw vanilla powder and then all the cacao powder. Then it looked a bit more like chocolate.
With this kit we also got several small cake cases, but we also already had a few unused baking moulds lying around in the drawers, so this was a good excuse to get them out.
The chocolate mixture is poured into the moulds and we added some nuts and goji berries which are also included in the kit. Then put the moulds straight into the freezer to set. As chocolate does not really freeze, there is no risk of it spoiling if left too long.
Raw chocolate does not taste as good when melted or when cooking with it. It tastes much better when set and ready to eat, so best not to lick the spoons with this stuff.
And once set!
And that's not all of our raw chocolate creations either. We also found a quick yummy recipe on the Indigo herbs website for salted peanut butter cacao cups. These are really really easy and we happened to have half a jar of peanut butter in the cupboard too that needed using up.
Using the made raw chocolate mixture and the included cake cases, we poured a small amount of chocolate into each case and immediately placed them in the freezer to harden a little. Then took them out and placed a layer of peanut butter onto each one.
Followed by another layer of raw chocolate on top and back in the freezer for more time to set. These are just delicious and now I know how to make them, I will certainly be making some more.
There are several other raw chocolate recipes on the website, most of which just require the chocolate making kit and a few basic ingredients.
I found one main thing that differs with this raw chocolate as opposed to regular chocolate types is that it seems to melt much quicker, almost instantly after removing it from the freezer. It doesn't turn to mush in your hand but I could feel it start to melt very quickly. It's probably best kept in the freezer or a cold part of the fridge until ready for eating or using.
These kits are great and we have all enjoyed making and eating the chocolate. They can also make lovely gifts too.
Bizzimummy
