From: Vinny Pinto <[email protected]>
Date: Thu Sep 2, 2004 01:04:22 Asia/Tokyo
To: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]
Cc: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]
Subject: [EM-health] Re: Raw Chocolate Source, Info, Now: Update
Reply-To: [email protected]
Hi folks:
You may recall my earlier message of several days ago (appended below)
wherein I offered some info about raw chocolate and sources. I have an
update for you regarding chocolate sensitivity, per my promise in my
earlier post below. As you may recall, despite the wonderful levels of
powerful antioxidants in black chocolate, about 30% of the population
seems
to experience adverse effects to even black organic chocolate (which
has,
of course, been processed and heated), and there have recently beena
lot of
rumors and even outright claims made in some sectors of the raw world
that
raw organic chocolate (raw fermented cacao beans) is free of these ill
effects -- that even people who react adversely to black chocolate can
eat
raw choclate with impunity. I do not believe those claims are 100%
true,
but may well be true for some. Here is my update:
Much as I offered to do in my earlier letter, I have been using myself
as a
guinea pig for the past 12 hours, and have been consuming steadily
increasing amounts of raw fermented pieces (nibs) of organic cacao
beans,
starting with 1 teaspoon 14 hours ago, and far more since then. So
far,
there have been no adverse effects at all -- I normally notice adverse
effects (headaches, alien abductions, delusions that I am in love with
Martha Stewart) within one hour of eating black chocolate. Please
remember
that I did choose to purchase the type of bean nibs which have been
fermented for a week via traditional means, just as has been done by
traditional cultures since time immemorial.
And now a note on antioxidant content: As you are likely aware from my
earlier posts, black (processed) chocolate is higher in antioxidants
per
gram than any other known foodstuff, other than some expensive dried
Chinese medicinal herbs (which do not taste nearly as good as
chocolate!)
And, organic processed black chocolate is even higher in antoxidants
(usually by a factor of about 1.4 or 1.5) than commercial-grade black
chocolate. Well, my rudimentary tests in my lab so far indicate that
the
antioxidant effects of the raw organic cacao is about 3X higher than
that
of even black organic bakers chocolate (which has been heated and
processed
multiple times...) Someday when I have an extra $200 for a lab test, I
will
send a sample off to an outside independent antioxidant lab to confirm
that
impression, but it makes sense, as each cycle of heating of processed
black
chocolate will often damage some percentage of the antioxidants. So,
bottom
line is that this raw cacao bean seems even higher in antioxidants than
black chocolate.
By the way, the taste of the raw cacao? Wonderful! I had been warned
by
some folks that raw cacao can taste more harsh and bitter and less
sweet
than unadulterated pure black chocolate, but this is not my
experience. And, since several friends have asked, the exact type of
raw
fermented cacao bean pieces which I ordered from Natural Zing.com was
the
$14.95 package listed on their website as of " Cacao, Raw Organic
Pieces
(peeled beans, raw chocolate), 8 oz." I would be far more wary of
trying
the raw unfermented cacao beans, unless you were planning to wet them
and
ferment them anaerobically with EM microbial inoculant for at least a
few
weeks.
with care,
--Vinny
--------------- my earlier message: ----------
Hi folks:
You may recall that I mentioned raw chocolate and the www.rawcacao.com
source on thes list groups recently. Well, I have spoken to the folks
at
the company and garnered some more information on the raw chocolate
matter,
so here goes:
* Per my earlier e-mail below, www.rawcacao.com and their retail
outlet
(same price), which is Natural Zing, at www.naturalzing.com , seem to
be
the least expensive source of raw chocolate, definitely cheaper than
David
Wolfe's site.
* The raw chocolate products offered by this source have never been
heated above 105 degrees F.
* Hate to sound like Sally Fallon and the Weston Price folks and
their
fetish for fermentation for a moment, but it seems that most
traditional
cultures which have used chocolate have fermented it first, much as
most
traditional cultures which have used soy have fermented it first. I
suspect that in the case of chocolate, in addition to the well-known
ability of fermentation to increase bioavailability of nutrients, the
fermentation may also decrese levels of some toxins, much as with soy
products. So, in light of these facts, I would personally order the
fermented raw chocolate products, rather than the unfermented "green"
beans.
* The raw chocolate products carried by www.rawcacao.com and their
www.naturalzing.com sales outlet are offered in both fermented and
unfermented form, and so you have a choice in this matter.
* There is a myth very much extant in some "faddish" circles of
the raw
vegan community that folks who are/were sentsitive to commercial cooked
chocolate will NOT react adversely to ra chocolate. The thinking behind
this piece of lore seems to be that any and all adverse effects
experienced
by folks to "normal" commercial black chocolate are/were due only to
the
heating/processing. My gut sense is that this piece of lore is largely
myth, and indeed, I have heard of folks who react adversely to
commercial
black chocolate also reacting adversely to raw chocolate. So, if you
are,
like me, one of those 28% of the population whose genes created a
biochemistry which is "sensitive" to chocolate, I would advise that
you try
raw chocolate with caution and only in small amounts at first.
* As a chocolate-sensitive (headaches and delusions of alien
abduction)
person myself, I will shortly be trying to eat some small amounts of
raw
chocolate, but I plan to go very slowly and carefully.
* I have been asked several times on these lists and in other
venues
whether fermenting raw chocolate (or even commercial black chocolate)
with
EM fermentation culture would reduce or eliminate the ill effects in
the
25% to 35% of the population which reacts badly to chocolate. I simply
do
not know at this time, but it is definitely possible. Even though
fermented chocolate has been fermented once, likely with wild lactic
acid
bacteria and beneficial wild yeasts, since the EM microbial culture
also
contains the magical phototrophic microbes, this "second" fermentation,
particularly if carried out for at least four weeks, might well
transform
far more of the cocao bean components into a more beneficial form. If
I do
some experimentation with this, I will share my results with you all
here.
Being chocolate-sensitive myself, I am a good test subject...
* I spent some time browsing the Natural Zing site this morning,
and
found that they also carry Bariani olive oil and a number of other
products
(dried olives, buttery raw coconut oil) of interest to folks eating a
partly-raw or largely-raw Paleolithic diet.
* Natural Zing is considering the possibility of carrying a couple
of
lines of EM fermented antioxidant brews. If and when they do this, I
will
let you know, and it will be announced on their website as well.
* If you call Natural Zing to order or have questions for them,
please
mention my name.
with care,
--Vinny
At 07:58 AM 8/27/04 -0400, you wrote:
Hi folks:
One of our dutiful chocolate addict members has provided me with a
link to
a slightly cheaper source for raw chocolate than the David Wolfe's
site,
which was first cited, and this cheaper site may be found at
<http://www.rawcacao.com/>http://www.rawcacao.com/
with care,
--Vinny
---------- my earlier message on the topic: -------------
Hi folks:
I offer the following information as a public service to all those
chocolate addicts and/or cashew addicts among us:
In a call with a largely-raw scientist friend yesterday, I discovered
that
the http://www.rawfood.com/ website is now selling truly raw
chocolate, and
also truly raw cashews. In fact, David Wolfe, the raw vegan who runs
that
site, claims that he now lives on a diet which is 40% raw chocolate,
and a
couple of RVAF friends of mine are also using raw chocolate as a
major part
of their diets. They all claim that ingesting raw chocolate yields
none of
the adverse effects seen in many people with cooked chocolate, which,
by
the way, turns out to be processed at high temperatures.
with care,
--Vinny
Vinny Pinto
[email protected]
phone 301-694-1249
To see my informational websites and e-mail list groups, please go to:
http://www.vinnypinto.us
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