I've been experimenting with raw cacao nibs for the last month or two. The first time I saw them at the grocery store, I opened the jar, stuck my nose in, and took a big sniff. Then I nearly fell over. The scent is incredibly strong - winey and slightly sour in addition to the familiar heady chocolate. Cacao, like basically everything else tasty, is fermented, and you can really tell in its pre-roasted state.

I made mole with the nibs a couple of times, and it was lovely (I'll post that recipe another time), but I wanted to try something sweet. Desserts are a fun challenge in whole foods cooking. When you first start transitioning to a vegetarian diet, you eat a lot of miso and other strong-flavored, umami, meaty foods. Likewise, when you start eating whole foods, you (or I at least) eat a lot of dates, because they're ultra-sweet, but at least they didn't come out of the vending machine at work. So they're a good place to start with desserts.

I'm not going to say this is good for you, but eaten in small portions, particularly by those who are cold and deficient (what's up vegans), it is strengthening and improves the spleen/pancreas qi which regulates digestion.

I tried to make my own coconut milk, but was unable to find coconuts that weren't sour, moldy, or rotten. An industrious raw-foodie could very easily adapt this recipe by extracting the coconut milk (perhaps use young coconut) and steeping it with the cacao at the highest temperature tolerated.

I think dates taste icky once they've been heated, but if you don't, then you could serve this warm.

Whole Chocolate Mousse

(My own recipe)

4 oz raw cacao nibs
2 cans full-fat coconut milk, do not shake
4 oz dates (pitted weight)

Grind the cacao nibs as finely as you can. I use ye olde 'half pint jar on a blender' because it grinds more finely than the food processor. Open up your first can of coconut milk and spoon the cream off the top into the top of a double boiler. Add the ground chocolate and bring to a simmer. Stirring frequently, simmer uncovered until the coconut cream turns a nice brown color, maybe 10 or 20 minutes. Add the rest of the can of coconut milk and strain through a single or double thickness of cheesecloth (single - crunchier but faster). The straining took some time; I ended up squeezing it by hand, a gross-fun job that would be well-suited to a 10 year old.

Pit your dates and put them in a food processor with the other can of coconut milk. Process completely. Once the chocolate mixture is completely cool, mix it together with the date mixture. You could do this in a food processor so it was light and fluffy. Serve in small bowls, because it's extremely rich.

Comments (5) |print-friendly recipe

tell a friend about this recipe