What is Cacao?

ca·ca·o /kəˈkou,kəˈkāō/ Pronounced: Kah-cow The term chocolate and cacao will be used interchangeably by me in this group. Technically, however, chocolate is the final product when cacao is conched to make it smooth, and sugar added in order to make it into a dessert.

Cacao starts from a pod, then picked when ripe; the beans are fermented and dried (much like coffee). Once dried, the cacao I promote for healing purposes, is carefully hand roasted enough to get the peels off and then ground into a paste. In this paste form, it still has its cacao butter intact and many medicinal properties. We then take that and make it into the bittersweet drink that will guide us into Healing Our Hearts with Chocolate!

(Here's a fun video on the fruit to bar process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hymVP5KABE8