Ceremonial Cacao Prep

There are many ways to enjoy your ceremonial grade cacao. These range from the most ‘purest approach’ of adding just filtered water or flowing water from the land you’re on. Through to adding smaller amounts to your favourite smoothies.

Dose - Anywhere between 45g and 55g could be considered a ceremonial dose. However if consuming daily as a micro dose then 15g or 20g is plenty, not forgetting it’s a stimulant, incredibly (off the charts good for you) amazing nutritional superfood, but you can have too much of a good thing.

 Can’t stand the Heat - One thing is for sure, no matter your principles on what to add to your cacao, it’s important not to overheat your carefully selected ceremonial medicine. One of many considerations whilst lovingly nurturing and producing ceremonial cacao, is to apply as little heat as possible. This ensures as many of the energetic and nutritional properties of the sacred medicine is retained and is why the end product is considered RAW!

 So bare this in mind, to apply too much heat now could potentially undo a lot of that beautiful energy and practice. It’s generally thought that below around 40 degrees will help it melt, yet keep its energy in tact.

 LOVE - this is a beautifully prepared medicine. No matter which route I take with cacao preparation I always hold love and appreciation along with the story of that particular cacao medicine in my heart whilst preparing of even just nibbling. Like any other ritual preparation or practice, intention, cleansing and blessing, slowing down to connect with what you’re doing.

 The way of the Purist - many would suggest to consider serving cacao as pure as possible, experiencing unaltered connection to the spirit of the medicine. If that resonates with you, then adding your filtered or gathered water along with your cacao and gently applying heat until it just gets to a melting point whilst keeping it moving so it doesn’t catch (you can even use a bain-marie) is a great way to prepare cacao for ceremony.

 Spices - So one thing people may do is add spices such as chilli, cinnamon, cardamom or your favourite spice. The chilli may help it absorb into your bloodstream quickly, the others are for flavour.

 Sweet tooth? - Some find many cacao strains very bitter as the westerners palette has become accustomed to such things in our diets. In which case if you add sweeteners, natural unrefined ingredients are much better, such as coconut palm sugar, pure honey or pure maple syrup for example.

 Adding plant milk - Some may choose to substitute water for a plant based milk suck as almond milk or oat milk. Even partially replacing water with your favourite milk will make the result richer and creamier.