Cacao for busy people
Hi! I’m Jennifer. I’m a Registered Dietitian and Certified Yoga Teacher. My goal is to help busy people stay nourished and calm through food and yoga. In this blog post I offer you 3 convenient ways to integrate cacao into your life.
But first, what is cacao?
Cacao is a beautiful multicolored fruit that dangles off tropical cacao trees. The fruit is plucked and cracked open to reveal large white beans held snugly together by a thick white membrane. Each bean is separated from this membrane and placed in a container where it ferments and turns brown.
Just a tad bit more information important for later on…
Once it’s done fermenting, it continues to darken in color as it’s left to dry. After it’s dry the shell is removed to reveal a cacao nib. This nib can be consumed, or it can be combined with other nibs and ground into a powder.
At the grocery store you may see packages of CACAO powder and COCOA powder and wonder … what is the difference?
One difference is that cacao powder is made after nibs were fermented and dried while cocoa powder is made after nibs were fermented, dried AND ROASTED. According to Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition (1), the phytochemical content of the cacao bean drops about 50% after it’s roasted. In other words, cacao has more phytochemicals than cocoa due to it being processed at a lower temperature.
It’s been reported that cocoa phytochemicals have beneficial roles in the body such as in the healthy maintenance of skin (2) the gut micro biome (3) and the cardiovascular system (4).
With all of that being said, here are 3 easy recipes I’ve created that contain cacao nibs and cacao powder. One side note is that cacao does contain caffeine. Cacao Powder has about 6.6mg of caffeine per 1 teaspoon of powder while Cacao Nibs have about 4.6mg of caffeine per 1 teaspoon.
My first recipe is a cacao mint smoothie. Smoothies are quick to make and easy to take on the run. I like to make a large amount so I have some to enjoy right when I make it and then some for later when I’m in a time crunch.
My second recipe is called chocolate overnight oats. This recipe requires a tiny bit of prep time the night before. But you have a nice breakfast waiting for you in the morning. Just warm it up and it’s ready in a couple of minutes. I like to pair mine with a banana. If you are in a morning time crunch, both the oats and the banana can easily be packed up for you to bring and enjoy at work.
This last recipe of mine might be great if you are looking for a power snack to keep your energy levels up. Sometimes busy people find themselves tied up for several hours, skipping breaks and even missing meals. These energy balls can be convenient to keep on hand when this happens.
Peaceful regards,
Jennifer
DISCLAIMER ** Content in this post is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used for personal health care advice. For questions regarding your personal nutrition or medical needs, please speak your primary health care provider or a Registered Dietitian. I offer nutrition consults and take many types of health insurance. For more details, visit the pricing page.
——————————————————
SOURCES
(1) Ruth Fabiola Peña-Correa, Burçe Ataç Mogol & Vincenzo Fogliano (2022) The impact of roasting on cocoa quality parameters, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2141191
(2) Giovanni Scapagnini, Sergio Davinelli, [...], and Salvador Gonzalez. Cocoa Bioactive Compounds: Significance and Potential for the Maintenance of Skin Health. Nutrients. 2014 Aug; 6(8): 3202–3213. Published online 2014 Aug 11. doi: 10.3390/nu6083202
PMCID: PMC4145303
PMID: 25116848
(3)Sorrenti V, Ali S, Mancin L, Davinelli S, Paoli A, Scapagnini G. Cocoa Polyphenols and Gut Microbiota Interplay: Bioavailability, Prebiotic Effect, and Impact on Human Health. Nutrients. 2020 Jun 27;12(7):1908. doi: 10.3390/nu12071908. PMID: 32605083; PMCID: PMC7400387.
(4)Silva TP, Silva AA, Toffolo MCF, de Aguiar AS. The action of phytochemicals present in cocoa in the prevention of vascular dysfunction and atherosclerosis. J Clin Transl Res. 2022 Nov 10;8(6):509-551. PMID: 36452001; PMCID: PMC9706317.