February is here, and you know what that means? Valentines day is nearly among us! Valentines day doesn’t have to feel like something commercial and phony, rather it is an awesome opportunity to pause and reflect on the love in our lives; that which we give and receive everyday. It is a great reminder to open our hearts, breath deeply, and feel love always. If there was only one food on Earth that could be chosen to symbolize love and the heart chakra it would be the cacao bean. Rich in magnesium and flavanoids, it helps keep the heart healthy on a physical level, but cacao also works with heart energy on an emotional level. Cacao contains a few very special chemicals that work with our adrenals and our brains, the most noted being phenylethylamine or pea, serotonin, tyramine, and tryptophan. All of these chemicals work with our nervous system to create a sense of well being, calmness and joy. pea in particular is often called “the love chemical” because it induces or heightens those wonderful feelings we get when we are falling in love.
When it comes to getting all of the immense benefits of cacao, eating it in it’s raw form is the way to go. RawGuru has many different raw chocolate goodies to choose from to fit a wide variety of different chocolate preferences. Of course there is our top selling and infamous rawtella, which is the perfect treat for a Valentines day brunch as a fruit dip or crepe filling. Just make sure you gently melt it before hand to turn it into a creamy-dreamy consistency perfect for coating fresh strawberries. We also carry Fortina bars made from truly raw, sprouted and stone ground cacao which is sweetened with wild local rizona honey. These are particularly powerful chocolate bars!
Also in stock are chocolate bars from Golden Bean, Gnosis, and Righteously Raw. If you haven't tried the Rose Bar from Righteously Raw you absolutely must! Sweetened with raw palm sugar, this bar is the perfect balance of delicate rose, raspberry, maqui berry, beet crystals and dark luscious chocolate. If chocolate bars aren’t on the agenda we also offer ChocAlive Truffles, as well as Spirit Bliss Passion and L.O.V.E Cups made with raw yacon or agave. Also, we can't forget to mention our amazing chocolate making ingredients such as Cocoa Powder, Cocoa Butter, coconut oil, Cacao Nibs, vanilla bean, raw unprocessed salts, all-raw sweeteners, and superfoods such as medicinal mushrooms, blue green algae, mesquite pod meal, lucuma, and more! All of our cacao treats are made with organic or sustainable, fair trade ingredients and are just as great for the planet as they are for the people you love the most in your life.
Enjoy your Valentines Day experience with an open heart filled to the brim with love (and plenty of raw chocolate!) Order early to ensure you get your chocolate treats right on time.
by Anna Hays
Some culinary combinations are just timeless classics that will never grow old. Chocolate and hazelnut is definitely one of those combinations, so good it has to be heaven sent. Many of us have probably tried mainstream chocolate butters that are found in supermarkets. However, yummy as it may be, it is full of refined sugar, refined oils, and conventional dairy. There are definitely healthier alternatives out there right now that have taken the idea of a hazelnut chocolate spread and turned it organic or vegan. While organic ingredients are definitely a step up from conventionally grown and processed ones, there is nothing that can beat minimally processed, raw, vegan ingredients that are not only grown organically but also with fair trade practices and sustainably. This is where rawtella rises above all other chocolate hazelnut spreads on the market and completely steals the show!
There is simply no other chocolate hazelnut spread on the market that is doing it quite like rawtella does it. Lets start off with the simplicity of ingredients. There are literally only 3 of them in rawtella: Organic raw hazelnuts, Organic raw stone ground cacao, and Coconut Secrets Coconut Sugar Crystals (which are totally raw and pending Organic certification). But the magic isn’t only in the ingredients, it is also in how the rawtella is made. The consistency of rawtella isn’t something you’d expect from a totally raw nut based product. It isn’t gritty or chunky, in fact is is silky smooth and actually melts in your mouth. It is creamy without the use of dairy or added oils. I am not exactly sure how they do it over there in the magical rawtella factory, but these guys have the process of making cold processed nut butters down pat. It helps that they have top of the line equipment which preserve the flavor, integrity and nutrition of the product.
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