Superfood FAQ: Cacao Powder
Satisfy chocolate cravings and focus on a healthy diet with our Healthworks Cacao Powder. Our Cacao is pure, organic, and tasty too! Packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, cacao powder has an earthier, bitter taste, so think dark chocolate… but healthier!
We source our Cacao Powder from Certified organic farms in Peru, where the cacao beans are grown, harvested, and pressed into fine powder. The process we use retains the cacao's authentic rich flavor and valued nutritional benefits.
FAQs
Question: What is the difference between Cacao Powder and Cocoa Powder?
Answer: Cacao Powder and Cocoa powder are not the same thing, but you can substitute cacao for cocoa. Some differences between Cacao Powder and Cocoa Powder are that Cacao Powder does not contain the additives that are often in cocoa such as sugars, milk fat, hydrogenated oils and artificial flavorings. Cacao Powder is high in antioxidants and contains essential vitamins and minerals, while Cocoa Powder is stripped of the nutrients because it is highly processed. Cacao Powder is a healthy alternative to using cocoa powder.
Question: Is your Cacao Powder fermented?
Answer: Yes, our cacao beans go through a process of natural fermentation after they are picked. It is a natural process that gives the beans their chocolaty taste.
Question: Can Cacao Powder be eaten raw or cooked?
Answer: Yes, the powder can be used raw and in fact, you get more benefits not heating/cooking the cacao powder as it is full of enzymes, vitamins, and nutrients that are carefully preserved in the low temperature processing.
Comments
Hi Dianne,
Thank you for your question. Healthworks cacao powder is certified organic and does not contain any added ingredients. The cacao power has been third-party tested following production. It is not approved until our Quality Assurance technician verifies it is within the FDA guidelines for impurities, including heavy metals such as cadmium and lead. With that being said, it is important to consume cacao powder with respect, as it is a superfood.
Here at Healthworks, we stand behind our products and take customer satisfaction very seriously. Please feel free to email us at info@healthworks.com, if you have any further questions or concerns.
Hello,
You stated that your cacao powder is tested and is required to be within “acceptable limitations” of purity for heavy metals; could you please tell me what that level is for cadmium in your testing?
Many thanks!
Dianne
Hi Kalli,
Thank you for your interest in Healthworks Cacao Powder. The organic cacao is carefully hand selected. We would like to inform you that once the cacao is removed from its pod, it is fermented and sun dried. All the processing is done at low monitored temperatures, to help preserve the nutritional value of the cacao. Hope this helps! If you have any further questions or would like to discuss further, feel free to email us at info@healtworks.com !
Is your cacao heated when processed? If so, at what temperature specifically? Do you consider Freeze-drying a better option of preserving nutrients of the bean? And when you say your beans are fermented, what does that process entail?
Thank you so much for your time! I’ve already bought multiple pounds of your cacao powder, now i just want to know more about it!
Hi Sandie,
Thank you for purchase and for reaching out to Healthworks. There is a talk that Chocolate contains caffeine. It would seem that this rumor is based primarily on confusion between two similar alkaloids: caffeine and Theobromine. Theobromine is the active ingredient in Chocolate and it occurs only in Cacao. The two stimulants are related and have similar structures, but are different chemicals with different properties. Theobromine is comparatively jitter-free in terms of energy. There are of course, some Chocolate products that have added caffeine, but it does not occur naturally in Chocolate. There is no added caffeine to our cacao powder. Hope this helps and if you have any further questions, feel free to email us at info@healthworks.com.
Hi Robert,
Thank you for your question. We understand that the level of Cadmium in chocolate has become a concern for consumers. Here is some information that we hope helps. Cadmium is a naturally-occurring element that can be present in soil, which means traces of it will be transferred to crops. The soil is organic, but cannot be cleared of the naturally occurring elements, so cadmium will be present in our cacao powder. We would like to inform you that our cacao powder is third-party tested following production. We regularly have our cacao powder tested, and it is not approved until our Quality Assurance technician verifies it is within acceptable limitations for impurities, including heavy metals such as, cadmium, arsenic, lead, mercury, and aluminum.
If you have any further questions or concerns, we would be happy to discuss further. Please email us at info@healthworks.com and we will do our best to help!
Consumer Lab finds that after testing your cacao powder in has a very large amount of cadmium as does all the cacao powders it tested. Is there any known cacao powder that has acceptable limits of cadmium?
Does cacao powder contain caffeine?