How to Make Raw Chocolate

Cacao is one of the most pharmacologically complex foods on the planet. It contains an estimated 1,200 chemical components. Its use dates back to 2,000 BC in present-day Honduras but its human use is estimated to be from 5,000 to 15,000 years old! The Mayans used the cacao bean as currency and in shamanic ceremony. The Aztecs used it as currency in marriage. Aztec Emperor Montezuma would serve thousands of cacao drinks at his feasts. According to Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, his vault contained more than 960 million cacao beans! In Mexico the beans were standard currency until 1887. Chocolate in its most potent and medicinal form is unheated and raw. It has nearly triple the ORAC value when it is uncooked. In its most potent state, it is heart and brain food. Cacao is a great source of antioxidants, theobromine, phenylethylamine, anandamide, tryptophan and MAOIs. If you purchase chocolate at the store, make sure that it is organic and fair trade as most of the popular chocolate companies utilize child slave labor.