Date balls

Date balls is kind of a bad name for these - they are nicer than that - also containing cacao, coconut, almond... Based on this recipe.

(makes approx 12)

1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 tbsp cacao powder
1/2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp almond butter
3 medjool dates
Extra cacao and cinnamon powder for rolling (or coconut)

Grind coconut and almonds together in a blender. Add cacao, coconut oil and almond butter and blend to mix. Add the dates and blend until well mixed*. Scoop approx tsp sized pieces of mixture, roll into balls, and coat by rolling in extra cacao powder (and/or cinnamon and/or more desiccated coconut). Best kept in the fridge (or freezer).


* I couldn’t get the dates to grind in my blender at all - they just stuck in big pieces... later realised the blender broke (it was ancient). So I ended up chopping and mashing with a knife and fork instead: old school. The fork solution worked out ok but was more work than I was expecting! But good to know you could make them without blender at all if needed.

These would also be lovely with ground pecans instead of almonds... but I liked the symmetry of using almonds plus almond butter, and coconut plus coconut oil, for this time. And they are good - best after chilling overnight. Would be quite kid friendly without the cacao.

Cupuaçu

Somewhere, probably here, I read about cupuaçu, and was instantly intrigued... A fruit closely related to cacao (another Theobroma), but not cacao? Surely this is something for me?!

Almost immediately after, I noticed our local Brazilian bakery seemed to sell it in some form - it was on their take-out menu but they didn't have it when I asked. So I forgot about it for a while...

Until we were browsing the ice fruit section in the Brazilian grocery (different from the bakery), while stocking up on açaí, and discovered a wealth of other exciting fruits in addition to the açaí - cupuaçu! Also cacao fruit, cashew fruit, acerola... We bought acerola, açaí, cupuaçu and cacao... how could we resist?

The lady in the shop said cacao and cupuaçu were really good together. I prepared a packet of each (sampling them separately along the way), blended together, then eaten, in the same way as our favourite açaí preparation.

I have to say, the light-yellow cupuaçu tasted kind of weird - nice, although not reminiscent of chocolate, and with a delicate, slightly fermenty, fruity flavour. I loved the cacao fruit (which I guess I knew already since sampling it in Belize) - it is light brown and has a milder taste. I think it could be good blended with açaí.

This was breakfast on Friday, followed by watching football World Cup (including Brazil vs Colombia), during which I also made Brazilian cheese rolls, so in spite of the all-day Hurricane Arthur rain, it felt pretty Brazilian in our house.

Açaí

S's friend Sascha has been staying with us this last week. He has been to Brazil a couple of times so was excited to find a couple of Brazilian grocery stores while roaming around the city (we had to work a bit). He came home with several forms of guarana, cashew and guava juices, and frozen açaí berry. S+I had eaten açaí once before, in Hawaii, so knew it was good and were familiar with the general format of it. But had never thought to look for it at our neighbourhood Brazilian store. It's Sascha's last day here today and at last we got around to whizzing up our açaí bowls.

(makes enough for three)

1 large packet of frozen açaí pulp
maple syrup (1-2 tbsp)
almond milk (1-2 tbsp)
~2 bananas
granola
roughly chopped strawberries (optional)
guarana powder (optional)
cacao nibs (optional)
flaked almonds (optional)
raisins (optional)

Put açaí in a blender with some maple syrup, some almond milk and one banana broken into big pieces. Blend until thick and smooth (add just enough milk to make it thick but smooth, and just enough sweetener to bring out the taste).

Scoop the açaí mixture into bowls and then add the other banana (chopped), granola, strawberries, guarana, cacao, almonds and raisins to taste. Mix up and eat.


I didn't know before that açaí is the fruit from a palm tree that is also cultivated for hearts of palm. It has a wonderfully deep, dark purple colour - almost brownish. It tastes berryish and exciting, and looks beautiful with granola and fruit scattered on top. The from-frozen preparation makes it this into a kind of intense, awesomely thick smoothie that you then pimp with fruit, nuts, granola and whatever else you fancy. The guarana and cacao will help get you going in the morning if that is what you are looking for. A delicious start to today / this week.

Mulberry, cranberry, wheatberry, walnut

All these berries seemed so coincidental - the wheatberries, the dried berries, the pickled berries, even the berry molasses appeared just when I was about to get out the honey. I am gradually plundering my cupboardful of preserves - these juicy pickled mulberries were from the first harvest of last year. So, salad or grain, either way, this is nice.

1 cup wheatberries, cooked until tender in ~ 2 cups water
~1 tbsp white miso
~1 tbsp mulberry molasses
~2 tbsp mulberry vinegar (from the pickled mulberries, top up with red wine vinegar if you don't have enough)
~2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper
~20 pickled mulberries
~1/4 cup walnut pieces
~2 tbsp dried cranberries
~1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
~2 tsp cacao nibs (optional)

Put the wheatberries on to cook, and in the meantime prepare all the other ingredients. To make the dressing, whisk the miso, mulberry molasses, vinegar, olive oil and some salt and pepper together in a small bowl and taste to check balance. Put the cooked wheatberries in a serving bowl and add the dressing. Toss and let cool a little. Add the pickled mulberries, walnuts, cranberries, parsley and cacao, mix up and taste to check seasoning etc. Eat warm or cold.

Cacao

young cacao pod

Our first stop in Belize, and something I was definitely excited about, was Punta Gorda, in the cacao-growing area of Toledo.  There is a considerable Mayan population there now (probably the biggest proportion of the population of any region of Belize), but of course there were many more back in the day.  Cacao was incredibly important to the Ancient Maya - they used it as currency.  After the mysterious Mayan collapse it seems like cacao in the region went a bit underground, with Mayan communities continuing to grow it and to drink hot cacao on special occasions, but little or no trade.

nearly-mature cacao pod

 Then Hershey's came along and imported their hybrid cacao plants and grew them in Belize during the American years (I was surprised they actually put cacao in their sick-flavoured 'chocolate').  And now there are three or four small-scale producers, placing an emphasis on maintaining the connections between farmers, chocolate manufacturers and consumers.  Near PG there is Cotton Tree Lodge (owned by Americans), and Cyrila's (owned by an entrepreneurial, local, Mayan family).  We took a tour of Cyrila's farm and they showed us the process of making chocolate, as well as letting us taste everything from the raw pods through roasted beans to hot cacao, cacao wine and finally chocolate.  The roasted beans were especially wonderful, and watching them turn into chocolate as you worked the grinder somewhat magical.

I started thinking about the idea that things that grow together taste good together.  I guess chocolate tastes good with about anything, but the flavours they were selling - chili chocolate, coffee chocolate, orange chocolate - seemed like such hard-and-fast, classic combinations...  I brought home some roasted cacao beans / nibs, and wanted to make something good with them.  Inspired by this recipe, I decided to combine the cacao with another crop important in Central America / the Caribbean: lime (where would guacamole or Cuba Libre be without lime?).


Cacao-Lime Cookies

Makes about 16.

1/2 cup fake butter
3/8 cup brown sugar
3/8 cup white sugar
1/2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 1 1/2 tbsp hot water
1 1/4 tsp fake milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
7/8 cup flour
3/8 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/8 cup cacao nibs
zest of half a lime


Heat the oven to 350F. Beat the butter and sugars until well mixed and light. Mix in the linseed mix, fake milk and vanilla.

Mix with a fork the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Add this to the butter mix gradually. Finally, mix in the cocoa nibs and lime zest.

Take small spoonfuls of the dough and roll into one inch sized balls and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


These have gone down a bit too well with S already - I intended to take them to Ladies' Drawing Club tomorrow, since the whole cacao aspect of the trip was partly catalysed by meeting Sam (who is currently working at Cotton Tree Lodge) through Andrea - but S has been making good inroads into the cookie pile: maybe I should have made double after all...