what RAW means to us

The question we hear most from our customers: What does it mean to be raw chocolate?

Well, the answer is a little more complicated than it probably should be. There is a lot of debate in the raw chocolate community about this, as there is no widely accepted definition of the word raw: anything from 42 degrees to 120 degrees, depending on who you ask! That's a lot of wiggle room, and many chocolates that are called raw are actually tempered.

A word about tempering:

Tempering is a process that involves slowly heating and cooling the chocolate while stirring it. The product is shinier, snappier, more shelf-stable, and in some cases more complex in flavor. Crubom sees nothing wrong with tempering chocolate; it has its place! We simply believe that as with so many foods, the best nutritional aspects are protected when processed as little as possible.

Can any chocolate be completely raw and unprocessed? 

In my opinion, no. The cacao beans must be fermented in the sun. The beans are then ground into nibs, and further ground into cacao liqueur (liquid chocolate in its purest form). This liquid is then pressed into butter and what's left is the powder. Crubom mixes the butter and powder with organic cold-pressed coconut oil and local honey, and friction produces a small amount of heat.

So here is what I'll say:

Crubom is raw in that the beans are never roasted and the chocolate is never tempered. 

Our chocolate does encounter some heat along its journey, but only from friction, pressure, and the sun.

At some point, we will create a line of darker chocolate that is just cacao liqueur and a sweetener, but that will require more resources than we currently have. Stay tuned!