Love Chocolate? Make Chocolate!

CHOC Chick promotes the pure goodness of chocolate in its raw state and a variety of CHOC Kits are available to purchase online and in major stores so you can make your very own raw chocolate recipes at home. (Courtesy of CHOC Chick)

I really do love chocolate! Chocolate has always been a big part of my life and some of my earliest childhood memories are of making and eating chocolate as a child in South America. But chocolate does have many negative aspects; commercially produced confectionaries are high in hydrogenated fats, sugar, soya lecithin, additives, preservatives, and very little actual cocoa content – the only bit that is actually good for us. There are also ethical issues relating to the sourcing of cocoa: it’s not always easy to ensure the chocolate you eat comes from plantations where there is no child exploitation or unethical working conditions.

But in 2008, I discovered that you can make delicious chocolates yourself that are high in cocoa content (almost 100 per cent cocoa) and free from dairy, processed sugars, gluten, soya additives, and guilt! Raw chocolate made from organic raw cacao powder and butter is the simplest way to enjoy chocolate that is actually good for us (minimally processed cacao is high in antioxidant flavanols, magnesium, vitamins B, C and E, and essential heart healthy fat).

After months of making raw chocolates for my friends and family and developing simple recipes, I decided this was too good to keep to myself and in 2009 set up CHOC Chick (yes I once wanted to be a “Rock Chick”, so this is the next best thing). I wanted to do things as ethically as possible and travelled to Ecuador to source organic cacao ingredients from cooperatives where I could verify that only organic farming methods are used and ethical work conditions are practised.

By 2010, my range of unique chocolate making kits (CHOC Chick Starter, CHOC Chick Master and our popular CHOC Chicos Kit) as well as our organic raw cacao butter and organic raw cacao powder were available in retailers across the U.K., including John Lewis Food Halls and Whole Foods Market U.K., and now you can find CHOC Chick products at Whole Foods Market in the U.S.A. (North Atlantic region) and in Holland & Barrett stores as part of their new Free From product range.

CHOC Chick promotes the pure goodness of chocolate in its raw state and a variety of CHOC Kits are available to purchase online and in major stores so you can make your very own raw chocolate recipes at home. (Courtesy of CHOC Chick)

CHOC Chick Kits contain organic raw cacao powder, organic raw cacao butter, a natural sweetener made from fruit (Sweet Freedom made from apples, grapes, and carob), and simple recipes, so that anyone who loves chocolate can make decadently healthy raw chocolates.

For more information about CHOC Chick and to order visit: www.chocchick.com/choc-kits.html