How to Grind Cacao Beans
Cacao has been associated with reducing high blood pressure and cholesterol. Cacao has antioxidant properties that reduce the blood's ability to clot. It can help to increase the level of serotonin in your brain, which can raise your mood. If you have raw cacao beans, they need to be roasted first. If you purchased roasted cacao beans, you need to extract the nibs from the shells and grind them up to a powder form before you use them in your recipe. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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1
Place the cacao nibs in the bowl of a food processor and pulse the blade for one or two minutes. Turn the food processor on and off in short bursts, using the "Pulse" button on the food processor. You should now have smaller pieces.
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2
Scoop 2 tablespoons of the cacao nibs from the food processor to a coffee grinder and grind them for about 15 seconds. Pause for 10 seconds to let them cool, then grind them again for 15 seconds.
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3
Pour the nibs into a bowl, scooping out any that are stuck to the bottom, and repeat Step 2 with the other nibs. You should now have a bowl of coarse powder that was processed in the coffee grinder.
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4
Place 2 tablespoons of the coarse powder back into the coffee grinder and grind until fine. Repeat until all of the coarse powder is ground into a fine powder.
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Tips & Warnings
Scoop all the cacao powder out of the grinder after each batch to avoid turning the powder into a liquid.
Do not try to use only the food processor to make a powder cacao. The heat from the food processor will produce a liquid form of the cacao.
References
- Photo Credit Cacao image by Patrick.Lenoble from Fotolia.com
