Lemon Caramel Chocolate 30g by Loving Earth
This Lemon Caramel Chocolate is made with Amazonico Criollo, single origin Certified Organic Raw Cacao (36%) from Satipo, Peru, creamy raw cashews infused with lemon essential oil and sweetened with Organic Evaporated Coconut Nectar, our chocolate is made in Melbourne.
What is it?
Loving Earth's Caramel Chocolate is made by combining pure Cacao Butter, Raw Cashews, Evaporated Coconut Nectar and Creamy Coconut. We've then added a delicate drop of organic lemon essential oil to this signature chocolate. The result is a zesty flavour that is reminiscent of a lemon cheesecake!
The cacao butter used to make this chocolate is Fair Trade Certified. Fair Trade standards ensure that producers and their community receive a fair share of the benefits of trade, thus improving the quality of their lives.
We have sweetened this chocolate bar with Organic Evaporate Coconut Nectar from the island of Java, Indonesia. This low GI (35), mineral rich sweetener, produced from coconut palm blossoms is considered the most sustainable in the world and makes a great cane sugar alternative.
Please Note: During the warmer months our chocolate can sometimes melt in transit. There is an increased chance of this in the case of our Lemon Caramel Chocolate since it includes whole coconut flesh, which contains healthy oils with a low melting point.
- Cane Sugar Free
- Gluten Free
- Dairy Free
- Low GI
- Vegan
- Fair Trade
Ingredients:
Fair Trade Organic Virgin Cacao Butter, Fair Trade Organic Evaporated Coconut Nectar, Organic Raw Cashews, Organic Coconut, Organic Lemon Essential Oil (<1%)
How to use
Two to three squares of our Lemon Caramel Chocolate makes for a luxurious and decadent experience.
Our chocolate is best enjoyed chilled. Due to the low melting point of the Cacao Butter, we recommend that you refrigerate this product before consuming.
Health Benefits
Cacao Butter
Raw cacao is a source of magnesium, which is an important mineral for a healthy functioning heart. It also plays a key role in producing energy for the neurons in the brain from glucose. So when there is an abundance of magnesium the brain works with clarity and focus.
Cashews
Cashews have a lower fat content than other nuts and approximately 75% of their fat is unsaturated fatty acids, with about 75% of this unsaturated fatty acid being oleic acid - the same heart-healthy monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. Studies show that oleic acid promotes good cardiovascular health. Studies of diabetic patients show that monounsaturated fat, when added to a low-fat diet, can help to reduce high triglyceride levels.
Evaporated Coconut Nectar
Our Evaporated Coconut Nectar is unfiltered and preservative free. It has a low Glycemic Index (GI) of 35. By comparison, most honeys are GI 55 and cane sugars are GI 68.
The Glycemic Index provides a ranking for carbohydrates according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a low GI (less than 40), produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels, avoiding the sugar “highs” and “lows” that we experience when consuming foods with high GIs.
Evaporated Coconut Nectar also has a nutritional and mineral content that is richer than all other commercially available sweeteners. When compared to brown sugar, Evaporated Coconut Nectar has twice the iron, four times the magnesium and over 10 times the amount of zinc.
Growing
Satipo is a region that sits at the edge of the Amazon basin at the base of the Andes mountain range. In this area we work with 4 small producer groups that are grouped under the umbrella association of cacao producers of Satipo that consists of 164 families in total.
Processing
Cacao
There are three main varieties of the cacao plant; the Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario. The cacao beans that we have sourced from Satipo are of the Criollo variety, which are the rarest of the three types of beans and are highly regarded for their delicate and complex flavours.
Cacao pods are harvested from the trees and cracked open. The beans are then taken out and fermented. The level of fermentation affects the flavour; we do a low fermentation at approximately 45 °C. At this lower temperature, the structure of the nutrients is preserved.
The main thing that Loving Earth does differently to other chocolate makers is that we don't roast the raw cacao beans before we process them. The standard procedure in the chocolate industry is to roast raw cacao to create cocoa. At Loving Earth, we wash our raw cacao beans with a citric-based organic disinfectant to remove the microbiological matter, whilst preserving the nutrient and antioxidant properties.
Afterwards, the beans are dried in large commercial dehydrators at controlled temperatures, before being winnowed into nibs, whereby the skin is removed. The nibs are ground and pressed to create the Cacao Powder and Cacao Butter.
This process also yields three other by-products - Raw Cacao Nibs, Raw Cacao Beans and Raw Cacao Liquor.
This highly efficient process allows us to extract the five basic materials we need to create our Loving Earth chocolate, all from a single origin in Peru. By sourcing our cacao products from this one community, we are supporting Satipo’s agricultural industry as well as the development of their indigenous community.
Our Cacao Butter is then combined with Creamy Raw Cashews, Coconut, Evaporated Coconut Nectar and infused with lemon essential oil to create our delicious Lemon Caramel Chocolate.
Packaging
Every Loving Earth chocolate bar comes to you in a compostable plant-based inner wrapper so that we can have a smaller impact on the environment. We have chosen a non GMO plant based material from a renewable source instead of simply going with conventional, plastic.
The boxes, which contain our wrapped chocolate bars, are made from 80% recycled post-consumer cardboard and are printed with vegetable inks.