Have you ever felt like a snowball, careering downhill, picking up more and more en route? Right now, that’s me with cacao. I’m diving into its history, nutrition and culinary applications in a crazy way – I don’t think I could stop, even if I wanted to! . I’m coming at cacao from a slightly different angle to most, however. I’ll certainly make sweetened chocolate for my family, but I am most interested in 100% cacao creations – be that solid chocolate or chocolate drinks. . For thousands of years, before sugar became diffuse, cacao was eaten (or drunk) without sweetener. It’s only in the last hundred or so years that mankind has made it sweet. . I’m interested in cacao at it roots, cacao worshipped, cacao drunk with plant compounds, cacao that’s bitter and deep and strong. Not just because ancestral traditions fascinate me, but because cacao is literally powerful medicine and I want to treat my body and mind to it without subjecting it to sugar (something I know I cannot handle). . Here we have beans that I’ve roasted, cracked and winnowed (de-shelled). I’m grinding them in my marble mortar. Swipe to see the just-made chocolate spread out and then the finished delights. . I have a long way to go in creating what I want to taste…but this journey is wonderful. . Check out my story today to see the roasting in progress and more gratuitous chocolate shots.