Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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I noticed in some of the chocolate questions that a few answers mentioned people making their own chocolate to cut down on its processing. How do you that?

flag	asked Oct 27 2010 at 4:08 Olga 1,926●2●14●35

gilliebean · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-27 08:45:56Z UTC

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There's a good video here for making traditional chocolate.

Basically, you take cacao nibs (from roasted cacao beans that have already been fermented) and grind them up really well. Then you add something sweet to cut the bitter. Then you temper it to make it smooth. Then you "set" it by chilling it. You kinda need special supplies to get it really smooth.

OR...

You can make a version of chocolate found here and here - the coconut oil kind.

Melt together over low heat:

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup rapadura (evaporated cane juice) or equivalent amount of stevia or honey

1 cup virgin, unrefined coconut oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Pour mixture on parchment paper lining a cookie sheet. Harden in refrigerator.

I like to keep mine in the freezer.

answered Oct 27 2010 at 8:45

gilliebean♦
13.7k●2●20●55

I add about 1 tsp of food grade cocoa butter to mine which I make as shown in this post. Adds a little extra cocoa flavor. – Deb Oct 27 2010 at 10:44

Perfect, thanks! – Olga Oct 27 2010 at 15:15

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So i just tried a combination of the first and second recipes. To my surprise, when you pulse cocoa nibs for long enough in a food processor, they do emit some liquid and start to bind together in a rough cream-type mixture. But unfortunately, stevia doesn't work to flavor cocoa nibs. That weird after flavor of stevia really doesn't work well with the bitterness of the nibs. Finally, I just threw in some agave nectar I had left over from pre-paleo days. I've got the texture down, so now I just have to work on sweetness so that it's actually edible. – Olga Nov 5 2010 at 2:08

Hurrah for the trial-and-error method! I'm glad you tried it! :) – gilliebean♦ Nov 5 2010 at 3:50

I'm higly allergic to agave (straight to hospital) but tolerate stevia--however, stevia tastes TERRIBLE. Has anybody tried 0 sweetener or (I know it's "wrong" but a little sucanat?--I mean like 99% cocao, 1% other?). – Lily Jul 25 at 13:58

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Anna Joy · Answer 2 · 2013-02-25 02:27:33Z UTC

We can't stand stevia either and are totally sugar-free so we use food-grade vegetable glycerin for all our sweetener needs! I use about 3/4 of the amount called for in the recipe when swapping VC for honey, etc. Makes great chocolate! When baking with it in larger quantities (like 1/4 C or more) it will smoke a good deal, so just be aware of that, but we mainly use it in tablespoons at a time!

How do you make your own chocolate?

2 Answers