Hot Cocoa Chai



Gift chai mix & my first attempt to imitate the recipe.

A dear friend sent me two amazing boxes of gifts recently, meant to cover a year's worth of celebrations--including my 2012 birthday and the one soon to come--filled with an assortment of feel-good items from BPA-free insulated travel drink cups and 2013 calendars, through shawls and pajamas, to my favorite: food. In keeping with the cooler weather, a tin of DAGOBA(R) organic drinking chocolate / chai mix was included. What a treat!
The can reads "DAGOBA(R) is dedicated to The Art of Chocolate Alchemy(R): transforming exceptional cacao into edible gold." What's not to like?!

Ingredients are listed on the front as follows: "cacao powder, bits of pure, dark chocolate, cane sugar, crystallized ginger, & essence of chai." Ingredients are organic and Fair Trade certified.

When looking at the Nutrition Facts and ingredient listing on the side of the can's label, the emphasis on sugar becomes clear. The first listed ingredient is cane sugar (organic) and a 3-tablespoon serving contains 8 grams of sugars--making sugar nearly 1/3 of the mix.

Having just hosted two "Sugar Blues: Combat Cravings" workshops in December, and still battling the seasonal influx of sugar-laden treats, I waited a few days to dive into the divine-looking cocoa. It wasn't until my housemate had enjoyed a couple of servings and the scent had wafted my way, that I decided it was time to try it myself. (Need I mention that the box of chocolates included in the gift had long since vanished, or that I had given in to the seasonal influx of gift chocolates? By the time I dove into the chocolate chai, I had chocolate and sugar running in my veins again--true to form.)

Since the goats are a month away from supplying us with milk again, I added a scoop of Action Whey(TM) to the hot water. After it dissolved, I added the DAGOBA(R) mix, and the result was delightful!

Knowing that the gift tin won't last, I promptly set about trying to imitate the mixture.

So far I'm pleased with the following: a scoop of Action Whey(TM), a half-scoop of raw organic cacao powder (abut a hefty heaping tablespoon), minced raw ginger root (about 2 teaspoons), and a tablespoon of semi-refined sugar. Next time I'll shave in some 85% dark chocolate.

Stay tuned while we work out the kinks to this recipe. Come January we'll have to return to shunning sugar. Although the sweet taste is a treat, the negative health impacts are not acceptable. Why, after a few days of indulging in gift chocolates I actually suffered some of those sugar blues I once lived with daily. Talk about a wake-up call! I am NOT going back to sugar-laden mood swings. No thank you, ma'am.

If you have a favorite hot cocoa recipe, please feel free to post a comment and include a link if you so desire. Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays!

Good-for-You Chocolate Mousse

Mmm, mmm tasty: Chocolate Mousse

On Saturday while I was trying to make an frozen dessert in my Blendtec blender, I did what I frequently do and simply grabbed ingredients that were handy and hoped for the best. The result surprised me. My palate was expecting an ice cream of sorts, but was treated instead to a very tasty mousse. In retrospect, I realize the mousse-making ingredient must have been the added cocoa butter. (The chia seed helped, too, of course.)

Who knows why I throw in the ingredients that I do? Impulsivity teaches me some interesting lessons. This is one for which I am most grateful.

Now, the ingredients I used included a large tomato because that is what was readily available and practically begging to be used. Plus, I love tomato; however, for those of you who shudder at the thought of including tomato in your mousse--skip it. It's that simple. Substitute an equivalent measure of another ripe fruit.

Also, the liquid base I used was cucumber water, again because that was handy. In this household we brew up pots of teas or simply steep batches of vegetable or fruit waters. I will include a post about this within the next several days. Cucumber water is simply water that has had sliced cucumber sitting it for a bit. By the glass, just add a slice (or chunk) or two of cucumber--being sure to include the seeds--let it sit a moment and drink. The result is surprisingly refreshing and delicious.

As always, where possible I use raw, organic ingredients.

Ingredients

• cucumber water -- 12 oz
• flax seed -- large palm full
• chia seed -- large palm full
• maca root powder -- 1 T
• cacao powder -- 1 T
• Action Whey [TM] -- 2 scoops
• cocoa butter -- 2 T
• very ripe figs -- 4, peeled
• fresh papaya -- 3/4 cup
• ripe tomato -- 1
• maple syrup -- 1 blurp (maybe a tablespoon? I just tip the jug quickly)
• frozen blueberries -- 1/4 cup
• frozen strawberries -- 1 cup

Directions
Blend for whole juice.
Serve immediately or chill and serve the next day.
Garnish with sliced strawberries for an added sweetness.

Warning
Although made as a dessert, it is highly recommended that this food only be consumed at a time when the eater plans to stay alert for several hours. The inclusion of superfoods, in this instance most particularly the cacao and maca, make this treat not only a sweet dessert but also a recipe for sustained alertness. I only had one serving on Saturday night, yet was up well into the wee hours. A serving on Sunday following lunch kept me fresh and alert through the remainder of the day.

Ginger Carrots

Ginger Carrots lacto-fermenting quietly in a mason jar.

Today a dear friend and I make a batch of Ginger Carrots for lacto-fermentation. Well, I should say, my friend did the work, I simply provided the materials, space, and recipe. (Warning: visitors are welcome to our home so long as you are willing to work! This week's visitor was a Godsend in terms of being helpful on our farm and in the kitchen.)

Did you ever wonder how people managed before the advent of refrigeration? Root cellars, cured and smoked meats, and lacto-fermented vegetables all played important roles. I suppose that lacto-fermentation could be considered a form of canning; after all, we store the products in canning jars. Using the whey separated from raw milk to provide lactic acid, traditional cultures preserved vegetables to last until the the next harvest season. Thus, summer and fall vegetables could be available in the dead of winter.

Ginger Carrots is a dish that goes well with spicy meats and provides a gentle introduction to lacto-fermented foods for the sensitive palate. The recipe we use is from page 95 of  Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions cookbook. If you want to live well and are interested in how traditional cultures managed to live in supremely good health before "civilization" descended with our processed foods and the like, then you need to discover the Weston A. Price Foundation and Nourishing Traditions.

My friend Tanya valiantly grated about 6 cups of carrots (the recipe calls for four but we were aiming to fill two mason jars--until we ran out of carrots) and a well-rounded tablespoon of ginger (nearly two tablespoons). I ground a tablespoon of sea salt. (The recipe calls for one tablespoon, but again I thought we would be getting a double recipe; I generally cut salt in half in recipes--when I use it at all.) Finally, the recipe called for 4 tablespoons of whey; we probably used six.

Next, Tanya got to pound the combined ingredients until the vegetable juices blended with the whey enough to cover the vegetables in the jar. Since the wooden tool we have to use is small, the task was difficult. I keep meaning to fashion a better tool since we have abundant stores of wood here, but have yet to get to that particular project.

After much labor--indeed, Tanya worked the entire time I was cooking up a batch of fresh ricotta using 1-1/2 gallons of raw goat milk--Tanya announced that the finished vegetables would fit in one jar. Although it seemed like a supreme amount of effort for the amount of product, I know that the flavor will be so delightful as to make the trouble well warranted.

When eating lacto-fermented vegetables, such as homemade sauerkraut, a healthy tablespoon size serving each day will provide the enzymes necessary for a balanced and healthy intestinal tract--deliciously!

Thank you, dear Tanya, for your efforts. We will think of you fondly as we enjoy the fruits of your labor in the coming months.