Amy’s Raw Chocolates bringing healthy chocolate to Dallas

Scott says:

From the Amy's Raw Chocolates online store: "...rich, chewy brownie delights! Packed with over 10 raw superfoods including: Mayan Gold Chocolate Powder [by Cadbury subsidiary Green & Black's; but, unless I'm mistaken, Green & Black's Mayan Gold isn't raw], Pristine Carob Powder, Pristine Maca, Triple Select Cacao Nibs, Ultra Tocotrienols, Sun Fire Salt, Peruvian Mesquite Meal, Greens Mix, Blue Green Algae, Vanilla Agave Nectar, Tibetan Crimson Goji Berries, Pristine Hemp Seeds, Pure Organic MSM, Guarana, and Raw Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Coconut Oil."

Compare that with the ingredient list of the chocolate I'm eating (guilt free) right now: "Cocoa beans, Sugar."

biergut says:

Why is all that stuff in there? just so they can say, and have it parroted, that's it's packed with superfoods (whatever that means)? I can't see those ingredients doing anything but detracting/distracting from the taste of cocoa. Also, I can't recall ever feeling guilty about eating chocolate. I'm with the other poster: simple is good (reaches blind into chocolate drawer and retrieves....a bar of Theo Ghana Fair Trade 84%, which lists ingredients as: "Cocoa beans (Ghana)+, Sugar). Lucky.

Scott says:

Thanks for the info, Eddie. Kind of confusing to name it "Mayan Gold," given Cadbury's trademark.

James, I'm not "excited about" eating sugar. I'm excited about eating chocolate, which usually contains sugar as an ingredient. (For what it's worth, carbohydrates are one of the seven major classes of nutrients, making sugar far from "nutritionally useless.")

I presume glucose, sucrose, or fructose (in one form or another) is an ingredient in most products from Amy's Raw Chocolates, though I can't know for certain or in what amounts, because the online store doesn't appear to provide complete ingredient lists or nutritional information for any product. (I wouldn't be a bit surprised if these "brownie delights" are higher in carbohydrates than the dark chocolate bar I'm eating right now.)

The "Amy's Passion" product does avoid some of the zanier excesses of the "brownie delights." Still, the ingredients include: "raw cacao powder, cacao butter, raw carob powder, vanilla agave nectar, mesquite meal, sunfire salt."

That may be a "more natural representation of cacao," but it's still pretty darned unnatural for several reasons. First, because of the multiplicity of ingredients (compared to "cocoa beans, sugar"). Second, because many of the ingredients are foreign to the cultural development of chocolate as a food. And, third, because some ingredients rely on modern industrial processes (e.g., the unnecessary extraction of cocoa butter from liquor to produce cocoa powder), rather than traditional, artisanal methods.

If I were a raw foodist, I'd be far more likely to buy Pacari. I would feel less guilty (in a moral, not nutritional, sense) because I'd know the sourcing of the cacao, which I don't with Amy's Raw Chocolates. Three-fourths of the world's cacao comes from Ivory Coast and Ghana where, just last week, an Interpol operation rescued 54 child slaves (of seven different nationalities) from cacao plantations. If a company isn't disclosing the country of origin of the cacao it uses, the odds are high that it's coming from West Africa.

twinwillow says:

Scott@ Please tell the name of the chocolate product your eating that contains only, "cacao beans and sugar". I would like to get some for myself. Thank you.

Scott says:

Twinwillow,

Today, it's DeVries Costa Rican 77%. (The ingredient list will be the same for his Costa Rican 80% and 84%, also, though the proportion of cacao mass to sugar will vary, as will the conching time.) Yesterday, it was Patric Madagascar 75%. (His 70% has the same ingredient list. His 67% has a little added cocoa butter, of his own pressing.) Domori (Criollo line), Theo, and others also have chocolates with similarly simple ingredient lists. (Pacari, mentioned above, has a raw 100% bar where the only ingredient is "cocoa beans.")

There are also plenty of fine, premium chocolates with a little added cocoa butter, soy lecithin, and/or vanilla. None of those additions significantly impact the nutritional picture (though anyone who's highly allergic to soy might have problems with a chocolate including lecithin).

MariaW says:

Great conversation here about my favorite subject -- chocolate! Scott, I've been eating Amy's chocolates as she's been "testing" them out on the raw food community here over the last year. I think I may be able to answer your questions to some degree, because they seem to be based on the usual ingredients you find in packaged chocolate.

Amy's ingredients are all 100% certified pristine, raw, wildcrafted, chemical-free and unprocessed, including the cacao butter and coconut oil -- they're not processed the way you mentioned. Most of her ingredients come from Radical Health in Austin; here's their info: http://bit.ly/T2L9B

There's no sucrose, glucose, fructose, sugar, dairy, soy, lecithin or fillers. The pristine superfoods are in there for a reason that goes beyond the pleasure of eating yummy chocolate (please don't give away that they are health-building; they may get lumped in a category with broccoli).

I am a designer and spend much of my day at my computer, and Amy's raw chocolate can sustain and smooth out my energy without the buzz I get from even the good sugared, processed chocolate. There are other brands of excellent raw, unprocessed chocolates out there that I also enjoy ... Amy's are just in a category all their own, and may even warrant a spot next to my best quality supplements.

twinwillow says:

Thanks, Scott. I've had a few different DeVries chocolates and have to say, they're not among my favorites. I think his chocolate is an "acquired" taste. A more, "adult" taste if you will.

Scott says:

You may be right, Twinwillow, though I've seen some people take to his chocolate right away.

MariaW, I think we're likely to talk past each other. Pressing of cacao mass (or liquor) to separate cocoa powder from cocoa butter is "processing." It's historically tied to the movement of chocolate production from individual artisans to industrialization and mass-production. It adds nothing to the quality of a chocolate bar, which is why you'll find "cocoa beans," "cocoa mass," or "cocoa liquor" on the ingredient lists of the world's best chocolates--not "cocoa powder." Additionally, many ways of extracting cocoa butter from cocoa powder either use chemicals or use too much heat to qualify the output as "raw."

Without knowing who the maker of the cocoa powder is, you're missing out on important information--about quality, processing methods, environmental impact, economic fairness to the growers, and sourcing concerns (if you're worried about child labor and slavery and such). Radical Health in Austin is not making chocolate or processing cocoa powder. They're buying it from someone and reselling it. Unless they're transparent about who the maker is, all you can do is decide whether to trust them or not.

You say "there's no sucrose, glucose, fructose, sugar, dairy, soy, lecithin or fillers." First, how can anyone know that, if complete and accurate ingredient lists aren't provided? Lack of detailed information--especially when coupled with unsupported health claims--raises red flags for me.

Secondly, I believe you're wrong. "Amy's Passion" contains agave nectar, which is composed almost entirely of fructose and glucose--the same combination of sugars that makes up the dreaded high fructose corn syrup that appears in nearly every processed food in America. And I know of no serious student or connoisseur of chocolate who would consider "raw carob powder" and "mesquite meal" as anything other fillers, contaminants, or adulterants in a chocolate bar. (Depending on the specific composition of "Amy's Passion," which we don't know because the information isn't provided, it may even violate FDA rules to call it "chocolate.")

Like I said, though, I believe we're likely to talk past each other. If you like the taste of Amy's Raw Chocolates, feel that they're having some beneficial effect on your body that you couldn't get from less complicated foodstuffs (e.g., blueberries, quality dark chocolate, cauliflower, etc.), don't mind the price, have no worries about the lack of detailed ingredient and nutritional information, and have implicit trust that whoever's supplying the guy she's buying her chocolate from is staying "raw," ethical, and organic (without even knowing which company it is), then more power to you. I'll stick with "cacao beans, sugar" from reputable, known chocolate makers--natural, great-tasting, ethical, as "local" as chocolate can be, and entirely guilt-free.