Featured Partner: Zimt Artisan Chocolates

Every week, Spud will be featuring one of our fantastic partners.  This involves some tasty info, photos and a giveaway for twenty Spud customers (see below).

This week, we have chosen Zimt Artisan Chocolates, who make some of the most delectable organic raw artisan chocolate bars, macaroons and raw cookie dough.

 

 

We had a chance to interview Emma of Zimt Artisan Chocolates:

A: That it is high in antioxidants! This is for what raw cacao is known; it has one of the highest ratings for antioxidant rich foods in the world, based on weight! What I really love, though, is that I have heard from some clientele that raw chocolate has been recommended to themselves or family or friends by oncologists- if eating chocolate can help someone out like that, I am all for it.
Q: Some chocolate beginners may not know what the difference between “raw” chocolate and “regular” chocolate is. Can you help us out?

A: Raw chocolate is made out of cocoa that has not been processed at very high temperatures. There is no one set “raw” temperature standard, but basically, they are kept as unprocessed as possible, so as to preserve the antioxidants and digestive enzymes. Regular chocolate is made from roasted cacao- not necessarily a negative, though definitely lower in antioxidants. Some people find that raw chocolate provides them with a sort of “buzz” that regular chocolate does not. Raw chocolate, like Zimt, is usually sweetened with alternative sweeteners (not cane sugar). We use coconut sugar, because it is low on the glycemic scale (people with diabetes even enjoy it), and while it is a sweetener that has been around for ages in South East Asia, it is relatively new to North America.

A: I love that cookie dough! I’d seen some similar recipes on blogs, so I started making it for my own use. I tweaked my recipes until I loved them, and thought a lot of other people may love them, too! Naturally, I had to mass produce them. The cookie dough is made out of cooked beans, coconut sugar, coconut oil or coconut butter, and also uses Himalayan salt. You would never guess that there are beans as an ingredient! It is fun and challenging to come up with and develop new product ideas- I’m really so happy that people love what we create. It is ethical and delicious; what more could one ask for!