I eat very dark chocolate (usually around 85% cacao). I don't care whether it is paleo, and I don't pretend that it is medicine. I eat it because it is an indulgence that has relatively little sugar while retaining the mouthfeel and intense flavor that make it sooo worth it. It's satifying but doesn't set me up for sugar cravings later. I'm using less and less artificial sweetener these days (used to love it in my tea) but allowing myself a few squares of chocolate several times a week. I figure I'm better off on balance.

I recently bought some nibs on a lark -- great flavor on their own (no sweetness of course). I'm thinking of making some dark chocolate truffles (solid chocolate + butter + cream) and rolling them in the nibs.

There's a good post about cacao over at Nephropal:

http://nephropal.blogspot.com/2009/10/beans-coffe-and-cacao.html

The evidence I've seen doesn't seem to indicate any adverse health effects. I consume a few teaspoons of unsweetened baking chocolate daily, mixed with homemade half-anf-half and sometimes a few chunks of 85% Lindt.

As with all things paleo, there is a dose response curve. There is an optimal amount of how much of anything you should take and how frequently you should take it. This will ultimately be a very individualistic thing, but you can apply some intuition. (BTW, paraphrasing McGuff). DeVany suggest a small amount of dark chocolate to address a sweet tooth. Obviously if you have a sweet tooth every day, then you should probably go back to the drawing board. In summary, chocolate can play a role in an otherwise healthy diet and active lifestyle.

Since it unfortunately tastes like crap unless accompanied by sugar, it's probably not paleo. Anything that needs something else to be edible probably isn't. That doesn't mean it's BAD though, it just means maybe we shouldn't have so much.

I like to make hot chocolate with baking chocolate unsweetened, almond milk and tablespoon of coconut milk. Liquid almond joy heaven.

I like raw cacao nibs in my (un-paleo) greek yogurt, perhaps it's my peruvian heritage

I think it has a fine nutritional profile, bit high on carbs, certainly not un-paleo if you eat it raw (I also enjoy unsweetened organic chocolate)

I agree that cacao powder has got lots of uses as well

Well, this site is really turning into something great. I was looking for cacao recipes, not expecting to find too much with the search function, but there are several great suggestions here.

Let's congratulate Patrik, and ourselves, for really building this up!

Regarding cacao nibs, you might be surprised by how much variation there is in the flavor between brands. The tastiest nibs I've had were Scharffen Berger roasted nibs--Unfortunately, roasting deletes a lot of the antioxidants.

Among raw nibs I've noticed a big difference in taste between the pricey Navitas brand and the generic 10-pound bag of eBay nibs I bought (yes, I bought food on eBay). Eating the eBay nibs feels like taking medicine; Navitas are nearly a treat.

Mark Sisson got me focused on/obsessed with ORAC values, so it's hard for me to resist the huge ORAC "dose" offered by a dozen daily grams of raw nibs. But I miss my Lindt 99%!

So what's the verdict? Eat raw cacao nibs, grinding the nibs up, or just buy 90% chocolate bars? I can get either or relatively cheap. Which way is it best to consume to get full benefits of antioxidants and magnesium?

Hey everyone, new this board and just started doing Paleo a few months ago. Anyway I took some coconut butter and one piece of 90% dark chocolate and melted in microwave for 30 seconds. Then I put almonds, walnuts and blueberries in the bowl and it was a nice snack (could be breakfast too) I guess the chocolate isnt very paleo but its a small amout. Anyone got any subs I can use for it in a similar dish?

I eat paleo almost 100% but still have my chocolate. I like to make a chocolate mousse with raw cacao powder. I use dates to sweeten it by blending them with a bit of water in the Vitamix. I use 1 or 2 avocados depending on how much I want to make and a tablespoon of coconut oil, then mix it all together with a mixer. Then serve with some fruit on top. Very delicious and I believe very healthy as well as being quite compatible with eating paleo.

Does anyone have any comments about how compatible raw cacao powder or nibs are for the paleo diet?

Chocolate is the only food I will not give up for my paleo lifestyle......

there is raw choclate. i have some here. it nice to mix the powder with something. occasionally its very good. to often its sad about the choclate. i dont like sugar in choclate. maybe xylitol. only a little

how detrimental is the little bit of sugar (3 grams) in a 90% cacao bar to the body? Can sugar make a person feel bloated, drowsy or gain weight?

An excellent PWO treat.

I'd consider cocoa more drug than food. It probably gets unhealthy at an amount that varies from person to person. On average, the recommendation of 10-15g per day may be low enough to have more benefits than drawbacks in the short term.

It's not a food to be considered as a source of magnesium, you have to take into account that you'll also consume large doses of copper and heavy metals. Long term, their accumulation may prove detrimental.

Then there's that whole host of other substances in chocolate, some of them allergenic, some psychoactive. Histamine also comes to mind.

As long as you aren't talking about 99% chocolate, I'd say yes it's somewhat unhealthy simply because it contains added sugar. Sensitive people may need to remember also that cocoa contains natural sugars, starch and mostly insoluble fiber.

Chocolate will usually have less flavonoids than less processed cocoa, another reason chocolate isn't optimal.

I mix raw cacao powder with equal parts coconut oil. It doesn't need sugar or stevia, although sometimes a little vanilla bean is nice...yum.