Product Description
PURPOSE
WHAT IS IT?
Cocoa nibs are cracked crunchy bits of heaven! Ready-to-eat, out of the package, they are good for recipes, as accompaniment to both spirits and coffee, or just as a snack on their own. Oh! Yeah! You can make chocolate with them, too.
Celebrated for their high levels of antioxidants, and flavonoids, they pack a lot of fiber, which gives you a sense of fullness. They’re a win whether you’re a raw foods fan, or love decadent desserts.
Cacao nibs have been used for thousands of years in cooking, and medicine, but only recently have they found much footing in the modern American and European kitchens, and bars. Beyond grinding them into delicious chocolate, home chefs are rediscovering the nutty, bitter side of the bean’s other magic powers.
EXPERIENCE
The flavor of a cocoa nib is more similar to roasted coffee beans than to chocolate. It is slightly nutty and, while there are definitely some chocolate notes in there, they drift into your palate after the coffee nose, but before the bean releases a hint of bitterness. They can be used in a wide variety of sweet, and savory applications in both the kitchen, and a home bar. They work really well as a contrast to something sweet.
At Chao Pescao, at the Hotel Andaz, in Costa Rica, bartenders will serve up a neat 20, or 30, year-old rum on a plank topped with a banana leaf.
Atop that, the drink is in the center, and then, placed around it, are contrasts in flavor: A smoking cinnamon stick; dried sour orange; and a small pile of cocoa nibs.
You sample a bit of each to offset the heavy sweetness of the rum.
CULINARY GEOGRAPHY
Cacao trees are native to the Amazon Basin, but they now grow in a land-range of about 20° North, to 20° South, of the Equator. Nearly 70% of the world’s supply of cacao is grown in West Africa. It’s one of the most vulnerable staple crops in the world due to global warming. In fifteen years, or less, production will have to shift to areas where temperatures will stay in the “ideal’ range for the trees that grow them. Beans are also sourced from the Andes, the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America, including Guatemala, Colombia, and Venezuela.
TRADITIONAL USES
- Grind into your own chocolate;
- Ground up into raw cocoa powder;
- Sprinkle on ice cream sundaes;
- Top, or bake into brownies, banana breads, or buns;
- Common in moles and tejates;
- Made into a hot chocolate like beverage by Aztec cultures.
IMPROVISATIONAL ‘RIFFS’
- My Cacao Cowboy Ribeye Rub, a cacao-infused spice rub for meats;
- Steep with a fermented-bean coffee for a little mocha magic;
- Grind into a graham cracker crust for a white chocolate pie;
- Add to your açaí bowl sparingly for a little bitter crunch.
THE BACKSTORY
Chocolate begins with a careful cacao pod harvest. Because the pods grow in all degrees of ripeness and at any location of the tree. Harvesting is labor-intensive. It has to be done by hand, with machetes. The pods are then cracked open. The fleshy pulp is removed, and the seeds are left out to dry before they can be cracked into nib-sized pieces.
The cacao tree was domesticated more than 4,000 years ago by the Olmecs of Mexico who used it in religious ceremonies, and by Mocayas in Central America. Before that, it was consumed by pre-Columbian cultures along the Yucatán, including the Mayans. The Spanish found it to be another treasure of the “new” world, and exported it back to Spain, and then to the rest of the world.
AKA
Afrikaans: Kakao nibs
Albanian: Copëza kakao
Arabic: قطع حبوب الكاكاو
Armenian: Կակաոյի հատիկների կտորներ
Azerbaijani: Kakao dənələri (qırıntılar)
Basque: Kakao zatitxoak
Belarusian: Какавыя дробкі
Bengali: কোকো নিবস
Bosnian: Komadići kakaa
Bulgarian: Какаови зърна (натрошени)
Catalan: Trossos de cacau
Chinese (Simplified): 可可碎粒
Chinese (Traditional): 可可碎粒
Croatian: Komadići kakaa
Czech: Kakaové kousky
Danish: Kakaonibs
Dutch: Cacaonibs
English: Cocoa nibs
Estonian: Kakao nibid
Filipino (Tagalog): Piraso ng kakaw
Finnish: Kaakaonibsit
French: Éclats de cacao
Galician: Anacos de cacao
Georgian: კაკაოს ნატეხები
German: Kakaonibs
Greek: Κομμάτια κακάο
Gujarati: કોકો ટુકડાં
Haitian Creole: Ti moso kakawo
Hebrew: פיסות קקאו
Hindi: कोको निब्स
Hungarian: Kakaóbab töret
Icelandic: Kakóflögur
Indonesian: Nib kakao
Irish: Smidirí cócó
Italian: Granella di cacao
Japanese: カカオニブ
Kannada: ಕೋಕೋ ತುಂಡುಗಳು
Kazakh: Какао түйіршіктері
Khmer: បំណែកកាកាវ
Korean: 카카오 닙스
Kurdish: Parçeyên kakao
Lao: ຊິ້ນສ່ວນກາໂກ
Latvian: Kakao gabaliņi
Lithuanian: Kakavos gabaliukai
Macedonian: Парчиња какао
Malay: Nib koko
Malayalam: കൊക്കോ തുണ്ടുകൾ
Maltese: Biċċiet kakao
Maori: Kongakonga kakao
Marathi: कोको तुकडे
Mongolian: Какаоны үйрмэг
Nepali: कोको टुक्रा
Norwegian: Kakaonibs
Pashto: د کاکاو ټوټې
Persian (Farsi): تکههای کاکائو
Polish: Nibsy kakaowe
Portuguese: Nibs de cacau
Punjabi: ਕੋਕੋ ਟੁਕੜੇ
Romanian: Nibs de cacao
Russian: Какао-крупка
Serbian: Комадићи какаа
Sinhala: කොකෝ කැබලි
Slovak: Kakaové kúsky
Slovenian: Kakavovi drobci
Somali: Qaybo kakao
Spanish: Nibs de cacao / trozos de cacao
Swahili: Vipande vya kakao
Swedish: Kakaonibs
Tamil: கோகோ துண்டுகள்
Telugu: కోకో ముక్కలు
Thai: เมล็ดโกโก้บดหยาบ
Turkish: Kakao parçacıkları
Ukrainian: Какао-крупка
Urdu: کوکو کے ٹکڑے
Uzbek: Kakao bo‘lakchalari
Vietnamese: Mảnh ca cao
Welsh: Darnau coco
Xhosa: Iziqwenga zekhokho
Yiddish: קאַקאַאָ שטיקער
Yoruba: Àwọ̀n ege koko
Zulu: Izingcezu zikakhokho
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