Nara's wild cocoa beans

These small, dark brown cocoa beans are very special. They are - as the title suggests - wild, meaning they are not grown in fields or farms. They grow in the middle of the Bolivian jungle because nature intended it that way. Once a year, people go out to harvest them, which is done by hand and without the use of machinery. The trees on which these beans grow are not treated in any way, nor is the soil on which they grow. As a result, nature is less affected than with any other form of agriculture.

What is special about wild cacao beans?

If you are familiar with raw cacao beans, you will notice some differences between them and our wild cacao beans. Our wild cacao beans are smaller than cultivated cacao beans. The varieties of cacao beans that are grown on plantations are usually grown extra large and high yielding. Not so with wild cocoa beans, which remain smaller and yield less. In turn, they are more resistant to diseases and bugs.

Another distinctive feature of the wild cacao bean is its natural fructose content. While cultivated cocoa beans usually contain no fructose, wild cocoa beans have a fructose content of up to 5%. Therefore, they taste sweeter, less bitter, and almost a little fruity!

What to do with wild cacao beans?

Although we are used to chocolate in all its forms, we hardly know the raw materials from which it is made - namely cocoa beans! So how do we eat them in the first place? Here are some ideas:

• Grind them in a simple household blender and add them to your breakfast cereal.
• Add a handful of beans to your smoothies for a delicious cacao flavor
• Use raw cacao beans in place of chocolate chips in cookies, brownies, or other baked goods

Dates and cacao

If you've explored our product line beyond our assortment of different dates, you may have noticed that we really like the combination of dates and cacao. We offer some blissful delights that play with this combination, such as our date chocolate spread or our chocolate dates, which come in three different varieties. For these products, we use pure cocoa. Since the dates themselves contain such a high level of fructose, there is no need to add sugar. If you haven't already, we can only encourage you to try the combination of dates and cocoa!

Simple and so tasty!

Probably the easiest way to make a nice combination of dates and cacao would be to simply fill the dates with wild cacao beans. You can leave the wild cacao beans whole if you want - they're a little harder than a hazelnut, but still soft enough to chew. Otherwise, you can always put them in the blender to grind them up a bit, maybe blend them with some peanut or almond butter to make a nice smooth paste, and then fill your dates with them.