What is Cacao Paste / Cacao Liquor / Cacao Mass that is used in Raw Chocolate?

Making Raw chocolate is becoming a popular hobby, amongst those who are concious of  super nutrition but still want to delight the senses and taste good chocolate. Raw Cacao liquor is one of the ingredients you can use when making Raw chocolate, and I decided to road test the taste, texture, quality and all round deliciousness of Raw Chocolate made with Raw Cacao liquor. Raw Chocolate the Indigo way I normally make my Raw Chocolate with Raw Cacao butter and Raw Cacao powder. I use approximately equal parts and sweeten with Raw Agave syrup. It certainly does make a delicious smooth chocolate consistency. My Pure Raw chocolate is appreciated by many. Raw Chocolate the Cacao Liquor way However I did make Raw chocolate with a friend over summer, and he used Raw Cacao Liquor, sometimes known as Raw Cacao Paste or Raw Cacao Mass.  He literally just stood the Raw Cacao liquor over hot water in a bowl ( a bain marie ) and it melted, I was left stirring it continually, and then we added Raw Agave Syrup and Vanilla powder. It made the most shiny brittle positively crisp piece of Raw chocolate I have tasted. I ate it straight from the freezer so there’s no wonder it was a cool smooth experience. But I wanted to know more, so I decided to put Raw Cacao Liquor in a taste test against equal parts Raw Cacao butter and Raw Cacao Powder. All the other ingredients in my recipe were exactly the same. Same quantities of Lucuma powder (surprisingly sweet), Madagascan Vanilla powder (this one is divine to smell), Agave Syrup, hulled Hemp seeds, Goji berries, Raw white Mulberries (too good just seriously too good) and Pumpkin seeds. So What is Cacao Paste? The Raw Cacao beans are put into a pressing machine and squashed. This process creates heat, so to ensure the “Raw” status of the beans the machinery is cooled. This pressing causes the oil to seperate and this is caught in a tray below. This sets and is used as Cacao butter. The remains are called the Cacao cake and this is broken up and made into powder, and used as Cacao powder. Then to create Cacao liquor the powder and oil are mixed together in their NATURALLY occuring proportions. This makes Cacao Liquor / paste / mass. The Big Cacao test Well firstly the Cacao Liquor was quite hard to cut into pieces, so it was time consuming at this stage, however once i had it in the bain marie it melted easily and i was one stage further on. The big difference is that by using the seperated raw ingredients of Raw Cacao Butter and Raw Cacoa Powder, you can decide the ratio of butter to powder and experiment with the texture of the chocolate. However, the Raw Cacao Liquer chocolate was definitely creamier, it also tasted less sweet, it seemed heavier with more substance and it made a delicious base to the abundance of seeds and berries I loaded into it. It seems mother nature has that naturally occuring ratio just right!  The Raw Cacao butter and the Raw Cacao powder mix chocolate was lighter and silkier, it tasted more oily and smooth. It was less heavy with more of a buttery taste, and it seemed sweeter. It was impossible to say which i prefered. I know I know !!! Where’s the competition in that! The results But really I think the Cacao liquor would suit a yummy heavier chocolate ladened with fruit and seeds. Whereas the butter / powder mix would suit a more chocolatey- Raw Chocolate flavoured with orange or mint, and eaten in smaller pieces. Raw Chocolate Cacao Paste / liquor / mass is supplied by Indigo Herbs of Glastonbury

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