Tag: raw chocolate

Review: Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit

AD/gifted. Homemade gifts and treats are always popular Christmas gifts. For many years now, friends and family have requested and been given anything from homemade jam and chutney to freshly baked shortbread. Always wanting to expand my repertoire, I’ve started thinking about making my own little chocolates and truffles. This week I’ve been playing Little Miss Chocolatier with this Organic Chocolate Starter Kit from Indigo Herbs.

Win an Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit

The Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit contains everything you need to make your first batch of organic chocolate, including a recipe and full instructions. The 750g kit costs £23.99 and is the perfect size for whipping up a batch of real chocolate Christmas treats this Christmas (or at any other time). The Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit contains:

  • Organic Raw Cacao Powder
  • Organic Raw Cacao Butter
  • Pure Raw Vanilla Powder
  • Organic Raw Agave Syrup

Win an Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit

My task for the afternoon was to make some treats for my family. I wasn’t sure how much chocolate my kit would make, the packaging suggests about 45 small bars but I couldn’t visualise that. I had some Star Wars silicone moulds, so I gave them a good clean and a spritz with some oil so the chocolate wouldn’t stick.

Making the chocolate was really very straightforward. Over a Bain Marie I melted the Organic Raw Cacao Butter, which did take a little while. Once melted I added the Pure Raw Vanilla Powder and stirred it through, then the Organic Raw Cacao Powder; stirring and stirring until it looked smooth and silky, then I added the Organic Raw Agave Syrup and stirred 100 times (ish).

Win an Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit

I carefully poured the chocolate into a jug and then filled my silicone moulds. I had some chocolate left over, so I made a sheet of craisin bark and a sheet of walnut bark. There was lots of chocolate (which is not a bad thing), so be prepared for that. I left my chocs in a cool place to set. Once I turned them out I was really happy with how they looked. The Star Wars chocolates are especially good I think.

Indigo Herbs sell a broad range of Natural health ingredients including herbs, superfoods, wholefoods and natural botanicals. Sourcing the finest quality ingredients from around the globe since 2005. Their Organic Chocolate Starter Kit is dairy-free; organic; gluten-free; vegan; it’s packed with nutrients and it’s delicious and nutritious. Raw Cacao contains over 300 nutrients, including antioxidants and minerals and it’s sweetened with Raw Agave Syrup which has a low gylcaemic index.

Win an Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit

Win an Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit

How does it taste? If you like dark chocolate, then raw chocolate is perfect for you. It’s full of complex, rich cacao flavours, it’s not too sweet or creamy like over the counter chocolate, but it’s a deliciously decadent treat for real chocolate fans.

This Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit would make the perfect Christmas gift for a chocolate loving foodie, or an equally great kit to make your own chocolate gifts for friends and family this Christmas.

Win an Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Starter Kit

To buy the kit, or for more information about Indigo Herbs, visit their website.

Recipe: Raw Chocolate Truffles made with Nutriseed

My local health food shop and deli make a delicious selection of raw chocolate energy bars and truffles, I have long lusted after them and wanted to try my hand at making them for myself. I often think making things from scratch is part of the fun, and these days when I’m trying to cut a few things like dairy out of my diet it makes sense to make some things myself. I was asked by superfood aficionados Nutriseed to try out some of their products, so I seized my chance to try making raw chocolate truffles myself. I was not disappointed.

I was sent a Nutri Box, a box full of nutritional goodies. I’d asked if my box could have cacao butter and cacao paste and I was happy to see some yummy goji berries and pumpkin seeds in there too. Nutriseed are an online nutritional food company based in London, creating vegetarian friendly, all-natural, raw, nutritional goodies by hand. 

raw chocolate truffles

My Nutriseed box was well packed and I loved the individual packets of goodness inside. Each of these “brown paper” packages are foiled inside so everything is fresh and in perfect condition, and they’re resealable too.

The Nutriseed website has so many different products to choose from including teas, treats, seeds, cereals, cocoa, capsules and superfoods. I think they are good value, for example my 500g of cacao paste was just £8.99 which I thought was very reasonable having priced up raw chocolate products elsewhere; delivery is free too if you spend over £29.99. Their product descriptions are packed with information, with all of the benefits of each product listed as well as nutritional information.

The Nutriseed website suggests that I use my Cacao Paste to…

  • Blend into smoothies for an extra nutritional kick
  • Sprinkle over yoghurt for a delicious breakfast
  • Bake into muffins, pancakes, or sweet bread
  • Add some to your breakfast porridge
  • Stir into a coffee for a homemade Mocha
  • Create a guiltless hot chocolate

But I wanted to make some raw chocolate truffles. There aren’t really many recipes around for making raw chocolate truffles with cacao paste, so I had to experiment a little with the quantities until I got it right. My recipe below is for cherry and rum raw chocolate truffles, but you could add whatever you wanted. I rolled mine in cocoa powder and dessicated coconut, but I really fancy making some pistachio truffles. Basically once you’ve made your chocolate truffle mixture you can add whatever you want. Here is my method…

Cherry & Rum Raw Chocolate Truffles

Yields 12
Delicious raw chocolate truffles made with cacao paste and cacao butter.

Ingredients
100g cacao paste
50g cacao butter
5 dessert spoons of carob syrup or similar
12-15 cherries
1 cap of rum
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
1 tablespoon of dessicated coconut

Instructions
Over a bain marie gently melt to cacao butter and cacao paste together, once melted remove from the heat and add the carob syrup, chopped cherries and a cap of rum, stir well. Put the mixture in the fridge to chill for two hours.

In a bowl mix the cocoa powder and coconut. Remove the chilled truffle mix from the fridge and using a teaspoon get enough mixture to make a truffle, shape in in your hands and roll in the cocoa powder and coconut mix, set aside. Make truffles with the remainder of the truffle mix.

Once all the truffles are made, chill in the fridge until they are to be eaten.

Notes
If you don’t want to shape the truffles using your hands, you could dust a silicon ice tray with the cocoa powder and pour in the warm runny truffle mix and leave that to set in the fridge. Just pop out a truffle as and when you need them.

I had a girls night in and offered my raw chocolate truffles around to my very discerning friends and they were a hit! We’ll be making some variations of these easy truffles in the run up to Easter and giving them as chocolatey gifts.

Raw Chocolate Truffles

I really loved my Nutriseed box, it’s the kind of grown up pick n mix of interesting and exciting ingredients a foodie can enjoy experimenting with. I’m already eyeing up several other of their hard to find ingredients for future recipes. 

Note: We were sent this Nutriseed box for review purposes, all images and opinions are our own.