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Herbal Chocolate Recipes And Benefits

By Angel Dudley


Herbal chocolate is not just a passing trend, because it's already a part of healthy lifestyles for people all over the world. The problem with traditional sweet chocolates is that every ounce contains 155 calories. It is choc-a-bloc full of sugar, along with an array of additives and preservatives. A healthy recipe would eliminate these harmful substances and allow people to enjoy the delicious sweetness without worrying about their weight or health risks.

Chocolates are usually made through a complicated process that begins with harvesting cocoa beans, followed by stages such as refinement and fermentation. The roasted and grinded beans are then mixed with milk and sugar to provide flavor, and the resulting viscous liquid is stored for chopping up into smaller units. Converting this into an herbal product requires a few tweaks to the traditional recipe.

There are any number of herbs and natural ingredients that can be combined to produce chocolates that are just as heavenly, but without the excess calories and harmful contents. For instance, it's possible to make guilt-free healthy chocolates using cocoa butter and cocoa powder with honey. The recipe can be further improved by using natural ingredients such as lavender, cinnamon, rose petals and mint.

It doesn't have to be a specific recipe. The core items are milk and dark chocolate. Those who need it to be sweet can replace sugar with honey, which then serves as the third key ingredient.

The dark chocolate must preferably be in the form for powdered cocoa. This makes it easy to measure and add the right quantity to match other items, and it mixes well with everything else. The optimum combination includes two teaspoons of honey, three spoons of cocoa and three cups of milk. Anything else that goes into it is simply a process of trial and error that each person can do according to their own tastes and preferences.

For instance, vanilla-flavored chocolates require nothing more than an addition of a few spoons of vanilla extract, which is available in organic gluten-free versions. To give it an edge of mint, simply add a couple of drops of peppermint oil. This is a concentrated oil that will suppress all other tastes and flavors if used in excess.

Another good example is the use of coconut oil as a replacement for milk. Couple this with stevia to replace honey, and it makes the recipe completely free of the high calories and carbohydrates that ordinary chocolates contain. Mint leaves chopped fine can provide additional natural flavoring. It works best when the coconut oil is heated and in liquid form, so that it mixes properly with the rest of the ingredients.

There's no way for these experimental recipes to be as famous and easily available in the market as the ordinary chocolates produced by big brands with their factories and global network of distributors. But that's not stopping people from finding these healthy alternatives for indulging their insatiable appetite for sweets. There's always the option of whipping up a batch of herbal chocolate at home. Either way, it is an ideal gift for family and friends during the holiday season, and for birthdays and other celebratory events.




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