Raja Ayurveda Says Bean to Bar Chocolate is a Food Group

bean to bar chocolate ayurveda

One of the questions that we often receive is: What does Ayurveda say about chocolate? Before we begin to answer this question we need to make two statements so that we can all be on the same wavelength:

  1. When the Ayurvedic texts were composed the cacao bean was not known to the Indian culture. Therefore, there is no mention of the cacao bean in the Ayurvedic texts.
  2. Ayurveda says that food first and foremost must be wholesome and nutrient dense.

Based on the above two statements, we can now further look into the world of chocolate and make an educated decision.

The quick video below walks you through the process in a very easy to understand way. No prior ayurvedic knowledge required. 🙂

Video Guide

For your viewing pleasure, look for the CC button on the video, click on it and you will have subtitles.:-)

Raja Ayurveda Says Bean to Bar Chocolate is a Food Group from Tim And Vie on Vimeo.

Raja Ayurveda Says Bean to Bar Chocolate is a Food Group from Tim And Vie on Vimeo.

Chocolate Resources

For more on the ayurvedic view on chocolate, read our book: Chocolate – A Love Affair For Your Senses: https://amzn.to/2SboK8u

If you are a health or fitness practitioner and wish to conduct your own Ayurveda & Chocolate tasting workshop: https://training-courses-102878.square.site/product/chocolate-ayurveda-workshop-outline/7?cs=true

To learn more about Ayurveda & The Mind, choose one of Spartan Mind Strength’s online self-paced courses, or in person trainings at https://squareup.com/store/training-courses

Gear Mentioned or Used On Our Videos and Podcasts

Until next time much, much love from both of us!

By the way, what is your favorite chocolate bar? Let us know in the comment section below.

And if you liked this, please hit the like button, share, and subscribe if you haven’t already. 🙂

Na’maste kala! Which in Greek means: May we all be well!

Video Transcript

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.570
It's amazing that chocolate, that
comfort food is actually really really

00:00:09.570 --> 00:00:16.320
really good for us. Our favorite line is I
consider chocolate, good chocolate, a food

00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:22.590
group. We have to keep in mind that not
all chocolate is created equal. When we

00:00:22.590 --> 00:00:27.180
talk about chocolate for this next few
minutes -- this is going to be about a 10

00:00:27.180 --> 00:00:34.710
to 15-minute broadcast -- we are referring
to really clean chocolate, which is

00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:40.530
called these days bean to bar.
Bean-to-bar chocolate. What does that

00:00:40.530 --> 00:00:50.280
mean? It means that it has gone through
as little processing as possible.

00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:57.780
It's from the bean to the chocolate bar.
What we like to actually call it is blossom

00:00:57.780 --> 00:01:04.890
to bar, from the flower to the bar. You
will be surprised to know that this

00:01:04.890 --> 00:01:13.650
amazing superfood good chocolate
actually starts as a tiny tiny flower

00:01:13.650 --> 00:01:21.720
and it's a miracle how it actually
survives. Chocolate starts as a tiny tiny

00:01:21.720 --> 00:01:28.350
flower and those flowers actually even
though they look extremely pretty they

00:01:28.350 --> 00:01:35.970
don't have a smell. Bees do not pollinate. Those flowers are pollinated by

00:01:35.970 --> 00:01:42.780
some really weird looking insects that
live in the jungle, actually under

00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:47.970
leaves and things like that. It's a
miracle how these flowers get pollinated.

00:01:47.970 --> 00:01:54.280
And the statistics are
different but they say only about 3 out of a

00:01:54.280 --> 00:02:02.710
thousand of those flowers are actually
gonna turn into the cacao pod and then

00:02:02.710 --> 00:02:09.429
those pods depending on the conditions
may survive or not survive, if it's like

00:02:09.429 --> 00:02:15.130
too hot or too wet or things like that,
they are not gonna necessarily make it.

00:02:15.130 --> 00:02:21.610
And then the beans come from those pods,
and those pods have to open, have to be

00:02:21.610 --> 00:02:28.000
opened very carefully, have to be hand
opened, actually workers use machetes and

00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:33.910
things like that to open them up. So you
can't use machinery. It's amazing how we

00:02:33.910 --> 00:02:40.090
actually get to enjoy that chocolate
pod. The process is very intriguing on

00:02:40.090 --> 00:02:47.500
how the pods are opened how they are
fermented dried all that stuff how they

00:02:47.500 --> 00:02:55.120
survive from mold, fungi things like
that how the beans make it to the chocolate

00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:04.000
makers and all that. There is the huge chocolate
industry that actually produces

00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:10.000
chocolate that's not necessarily good
for us and they don't care that much on

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:17.079
the whole process on how clean it is and
how humane the conditions are for the

00:03:17.079 --> 00:03:25.209
workers. But there are also the smaller
chocolate makers who care a lot about

00:03:25.209 --> 00:03:31.109
that process and the conditions of the
workers. We see a lot more of that

00:03:31.109 --> 00:03:38.350
bean-to-bar chocolate showing up. And on
the positive side we also see some of

00:03:38.350 --> 00:03:42.519
the bigger chocolate makers who are
actually starting to pay more attention.

00:03:42.519 --> 00:03:48.970
There's really really great hope for the
world of chocolate. This bean to bar

00:03:48.970 --> 00:03:54.480
chocolate has very very few ingredients
actually if you start google'ing or

00:03:54.480 --> 00:04:00.400
looking at your local markets for bean
to bar chocolate and read the

00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:08.110
ingredients you're gonna see cacao bean
cacao butter some form of good sugar

00:04:08.110 --> 00:04:14.560
maybe whole milk if it's milk chocolate
and that's about it. Now they may add a

00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:20.799
couple of spices like ginger black
pepper Himalayan salt things like that.

00:04:20.799 --> 00:04:28.599
The two main ingredients are the cacao
powder and the cacao butter. And what's that?

00:04:28.599 --> 00:04:36.310
The cacao powder and the cacao butter are
the two main parts of the cacao bean. Mostly

00:04:36.310 --> 00:04:42.760
the powder and the butter are
part of the cacao bean. Actually the

00:04:42.760 --> 00:04:51.099
cacao nib which is the bean without the
hull. 53% of a cacao nib is the cacao

00:04:51.099 --> 00:04:57.010
butter. Guess what the cacao butter is? The
cacao butter is actually what is

00:04:57.010 --> 00:05:03.340
referred to as white chocolate. White
chocolate is not just some weird colored

00:05:03.340 --> 00:05:10.120
chocolate or anything like that. The
white chocolate is cacao butter which is

00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:18.729
the really really good fat and it's the
half of the part of the cacao bean. White

00:05:18.729 --> 00:05:25.180
chocolate is actually really really good
for us as long as it's the real cacao

00:05:25.180 --> 00:05:29.680
butter. There are a lot of white
chocolates in the market that don't have

00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:35.950
any chocolate or any butter in them. Be
careful when you choose white chocolate.

00:05:35.950 --> 00:05:40.740
Why do I like to say that good chocolate
is a food group? Well,

00:05:40.740 --> 00:05:47.639
it is a very complete food. It has
everything our brain needs everything

00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:55.729
our circulatory system needs everything
our gut bacteria our gut brain needs.

00:05:55.729 --> 00:06:03.750
Just like good coffee good chocolate has
the polyphenols that are what our good

00:06:03.750 --> 00:06:12.030
bacteria like to feed on. If we choose
our chocolate wisely and enjoy it

00:06:12.030 --> 00:06:21.800
properly we are actually taking care of
our health. Remember food is medicine but

00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:28.199
food that's good for us doesn't have to
taste bad. Choose the chocolate wisely and

00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:36.720
you will be surprised at how great food
that is great for us can taste. And all

00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:42.419
of that stuff is in our book, it's
explained very very detailed. How do you

00:06:42.419 --> 00:06:46.009
choose good chocolate? Start looking
around.

00:06:46.009 --> 00:06:52.889
Make it your intention to find chocolate
that's really good for you Google look

00:06:52.889 --> 00:06:56.610
at your local markets look for
bean-to-bar

00:06:56.610 --> 00:07:03.479
chocolate or craft chocolate, that's
another term that's used for chocolate,

00:07:03.479 --> 00:07:10.979
craft chocolate, or artisan chocolate.
You will be surprised at what you're

00:07:10.979 --> 00:07:16.949
gonna find. And call up those companies
if they are not close to you if you

00:07:16.949 --> 00:07:22.770
can't go visit them call them up talk
with them you will be amazed at how

00:07:22.770 --> 00:07:31.660
much love those small chocolate places
put into the whole process. When you eat

00:07:31.660 --> 00:07:36.340
good chocolate you are not only helping
yourselves you are helping the

00:07:36.340 --> 00:07:42.550
environment you are helping the farmers
you are helping the workers you're

00:07:42.550 --> 00:07:49.000
helping put kids through schools you are
preserving the rain forest you are

00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:55.540
helping the ecosystem there are amazing
things that you are doing not just for

00:07:55.540 --> 00:08:02.910
yourselves, for the world. Chocolate is a very very
old food. The oldest scientific

00:08:02.910 --> 00:08:11.650
evidence for chocolate is from like 1900
BC from the Olmecs then the Aztecs the

00:08:11.650 --> 00:08:18.580
Mayans they were enjoying chocolate. A
lot of old cultures were enjoying chocolate. When

00:08:18.580 --> 00:08:26.770
you start looking at what old cultures
used to eat and used to appreciate

00:08:26.770 --> 00:08:34.060
you are more likely to find that that
food is really good for you, it is just

00:08:34.060 --> 00:08:40.750
how the whole process has become today
that has lost a lot of that value. Ayurvedically

00:08:40.750 --> 00:08:46.870
speaking and according to Greek
medicine chocolate has so many benefits.

00:08:46.870 --> 00:08:55.450
It has a lot of the tastes that we don't
get to experience in our daily food it

00:08:55.450 --> 00:09:01.960
has the clean bitter taste the clean
astringent taste and the clean sweet

00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:07.350
taste and the clean
oily taste. Those are four fundamental

00:09:07.350 --> 00:09:18.100
tastes that we don't get to eat enough
in our daily intake. The best time to enjoy

00:09:18.100 --> 00:09:21.860
chocolate actually according to both
Ayurveda and the Greek

00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:30.860
medicine is in the afternoon actually
four hours before sunset. Because that is

00:09:30.860 --> 00:09:38.120
when our nervous system does the most
work and those tastes that we just

00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:44.300
mentioned help our nervous system
balance. You're sitting at your desk at

00:09:44.300 --> 00:09:50.360
around 4:00 in the afternoon or 3:00 in
the afternoon and you feel that crash

00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:53.540
like you are tired you just want to take
a nap

00:09:53.540 --> 00:10:00.110
you want to reach for like junk food or
comfort food something like that. Have a

00:10:00.110 --> 00:10:07.690
good, have a piece of good bean to bar
chocolate and you will be amazed at what

00:10:07.690 --> 00:10:14.390
that is gonna do for you. The other great
thing about good chocolate is you are

00:10:14.390 --> 00:10:21.950
not gonna want to devour the whole bar.
A good small sized piece, average sized

00:10:21.950 --> 00:10:27.680
piece, is gonna be enough for you, it's
gonna be very satisfying because it has

00:10:27.680 --> 00:10:33.740
all the good elements that your body
needs. Good chocolate is gonna have

00:10:33.740 --> 00:10:42.560
also is gonna have not just the bitter
taste. Good chocolate reflects where

00:10:42.560 --> 00:10:49.070
the bean grew up in. You're gonna have
even if there is nothing added, no

00:10:49.070 --> 00:10:57.290
black pepper no salt no too much sugar
no fruit nothing depending on where the

00:10:57.290 --> 00:11:04.670
bean came from you're gonna taste
blackberries raspberries you're gonna

00:11:04.670 --> 00:11:14.029
taste pistachios you're gonna taste wood
you're gonna taste licorice you're gonna

00:11:14.029 --> 00:11:21.110
taste vanilla you are gonna taste
bananas, it all depends. And what I like

00:11:21.110 --> 00:11:29.510
to say is, listen
through your taste to what the bean has

00:11:29.510 --> 00:11:39.640
to tell you about the area it grew up in.
When you eat your chocolate don't just

00:11:39.640 --> 00:11:45.620
chew on it and swallow it. Let it melt in
your mouth

00:11:45.620 --> 00:11:54.970
close your eyes don't even talk let it
dissolve in your mouth and pay attention

00:11:54.970 --> 00:12:01.990
to the taste that it reveals. If the
chocolate hasn't been processed properly

00:12:01.990 --> 00:12:08.270
you're gonna feel like it's about to
tell you something but it doesn't really,

00:12:08.270 --> 00:12:14.540
nothing happens. But if the chocolate
has been processed properly you're gonna

00:12:14.540 --> 00:12:25.220
actually listen to a lot of messages
about the earth about the climate about the

00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:32.690
neighboring plants about how it was
dried about how it was roasted. A lot of

00:12:32.690 --> 00:12:39.080
chocolate makers actually don't add
anything to a lot of their chocolate

00:12:39.080 --> 00:12:46.250
because the bean doesn't need it, it's
complete it's full of information. Food

00:12:46.250 --> 00:12:52.790
is information. Listen to them and you will be
surprised. Choose your chocolate with the

00:12:52.790 --> 00:13:02.240
utmost care enjoy it with love and
listen to the messages it has to tell

00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:07.280
you and know that you are doing a lot of
greatness

00:13:07.280 --> 00:13:11.570
not just for your own health but for the
world

00:13:11.570 --> 00:13:18.350
and for the people that worked
really hard to bring that to your

00:13:18.350 --> 00:13:26.420
palette. Spread the word about bean to
bar amazing chocolate made with tons of

00:13:26.420 --> 00:13:28.840
love.


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