It’s finally here!! My ONLINE CHOCOLATE WORKSHOP!!

I know you’ve been waiting for this for this moment for what seems like an eternity…..🥁🥁🥁🥁 ….the launch of my online chocolate workshop!

It’s. Finally. Here!!!

Chocolate lovers the world over can rejoice in now being able to recreate my signature sokolata and other delectable chocolately recipes in 👏🏻 your 👏🏻own👏🏻 home👏🏻

Chocolate is one of the most highly coveted foods on Earth. But not all chocolate is created equal!!! When using the highest quality organic ingredients including healthy fats, and minimal sweeteners, chocolate is transformed into one of the most medical and health-promoting foods on the planet. 

In this workshop you will learn how to master numerous nutritious and delicious chocolate desserts ranging from hot, cold, frozen, room temperature, 1 minute desserts, to the dinner party worthy, but all exceptionally simple, fuss-free and nutrient-dense. Being a veteran in this field and one of Sydney’s first organic artisan chocolate makers, I have perfected the art of making “sokolata”  (chocolate in Greek) over the past decade in my renowned no-nonsense, practical approach.

In this online workshop you will receive:

1.   lifetime access to a VIDEO of just over 1 hour in length covering comprehensive nutritional theory of approximately 20 minutes and practical demonstrations in the kitchen of approximately 45 minutes;

PLUS 

2. a comprehensive 29 page  WORKSHOP BOOKLET covering in detail all of the nutritional theory, the recipes, equipment needed and a list of references that you can refer to at any time;

PLUS

3. FREE Q&A - as part of the package you will be able to email me any questions you may have on the workshop at any time.  

I show you how to create 7 of my favourite chocolate creations including the pièce de résistance - “sokolata”  - which is my signature raw dark chocolate, where I reveal my secret  “formula” with various flavor options allowing you to create your own uniquely flavoured chocolate at home. This is gold! You will be amazed at how simple and easy all of the recipes are – each one taking less than 10 minutes.

This online workshop is a must-have if: 

• you are interested in making your own home-made chocolate and chocolately desserts very simply, quickly and fuss-free using only nutrient-dense ingredients

• you are grain-free or gluten-free or wish to avoid all processed sugars and other processed ingredients

• you want to transition off commercial chocolate containing processed or other questionable ingredients and want a healthy substitute

• you want to take your health and well-being to the next level with the inclusion of unparalleled quality raw dark chocolate or raw cacao powder in your diet

• you who want to try new delicious guilt-free things

• you wanted to, but could not, attend my chocolate workshops in Sydney.

Easter 2019!

Our nutrient-dense no-crap Easter chocolates are once again available for purchase at Broth Bar & Larder! 

This is artisan chocolate alchemy made with the highest quality ingredients. To create our Easter range, I took our original Sokolata recipe and tweaked it to make it more kid-friendly for younger palates.

As usual, we have 2 fabulous offerings this Easter! Both are available NOW until stocks last at BB&L…

1) ORGANIC YUMMY BUNNY

These little fellows are made of solid raw dark chocolate and retail for $22.50 (cheaper than the Lindt ones I saw in Woollies!). Perfect for all the yummy mummies, delicious daddies and little bunnies out there….these will get your bunny tails shaking! 

2) MINI SOKOLATA DELIGHTS

These delightful little half eggs are the perfect mouth-sized treat. Each egg is decorated with either a goji berry, an activated almond or activated cinnamon buckwheat. You can pop them into some hard plastic egg-shaped containers from $2 shops for those treasured Easter egg hunts (pictured below). 

They are retailing for $15/100g bag and each bag has a mixture of the 3 flavours. 

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The ingredients that go into our artisan chocolate:

Our artisan Easter chocolate is made with the following 3 pure ingredients:

• Certified organic raw cacao powder

• Certified organic raw cacao butter

• Mineral rich pure Canadian maple syrup

In keeping with previous years traditions we have reformulated our signature raw dark chocolate recipe by reducing the amount of raw cacao powder to make it less bitter for younger palates. Because it is less bitter, we reduced the amount of maple syrup as less sweetener is needed when there is less raw cacao powder. Commercial manufacturers increase the amount of sweetener for kids’ chocolates but we did the exact opposite as we know how unnecessary and damaging an excess of sweeteners are, especially for young growing bodies. The result is a silky smooth melt-in-your-mouth buttery sensation with a hint of raw dark chocolate. We trialled these on the harshest of critics (kids!) and got the big thumbs up!

To read about the nutritional benefits of raw cacao powder and what’s in commercially-produced chocolate that you might want to steer clear of (such as soy lecithins, refined sweetens, agave syrup, preservatives, milk powders), read one of my earlier newsletters here.

If these Easter chocolates don’t take your fancy, there’s always our sokolata (raw dark chocolate slabs…choose from 4 different flavours) or our raw cacao coconut balls (sweetened with whole medjool dates). 

To avoid disappointment, I strongly encourage you to pre-order and pre-pay for your Easter chocolates by calling the friendly staff at Broth Bar & Larder on 0421 786 009 or emailing us at orders@staraniseorganic.com and we will put packets aside for you. We can also courier the Easter chocolates to Sydney Metro Areas for an additional courier fee.

We are closed over the Easter 4 day public holiday long weekend 19 - 22 April

Wishing you all a happy chocolate-filled easter!!

WHY “ACTIVATED”?

I’m often asked what are “activated” nuts and why do we need to “activate” nuts? 

SHORT ANSWER: Activation has become an industry term that means proper preparation through soaking and long slow dehydrating to reduce phytates and other anti nutrients naturally found in all nuts and seeds that lead to digestive havoc. Activation makes nuts more digestible and nutritious  (not to mention more delicious!) 

LONG ANSWER: 

🌰 The phytates and other anti nutrients found in raw nuts and seeds do three pesky things:

1. They trap nutrients inside the nuts. Nuts and seeds are one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet but if the nutrients are not bio available then you’re not availing yourself of all that goodness! Activating nuts liberates or activates the nutrients in the nuts, making activated nuts the third most nutrient-dense food on the planet (according to the Mat Lalonde scale of nutrient density).
2. They destroy enzymes needed for digestion. That’s why gas and bloating are often the result of eating raw - unactivated - nuts as your body is having a really hard time digesting those raw nuts without digestive enzymes. 
3. They irritate the lining of the gut making it leaky. A leaky gut is something we want to avoid at all expense as it means large foreign particles can now directly enter the blood stream instead of being kept in the gastro intestinal tract. This can potentially invoke a powerful immune response where the body tries to attack those foreign particles but mistakenly starts attacking its own tissues (hence the term “auto”-immunity). Auto-immunity is not a life sentence and can be put into  ‘remission’ by following a strict protocol of healing and sealing the tight junctions of the gut (for more information contact me for a private health coaching session where I can give you the auto immune protocol meal plan that I put together for all my AIP clients and I can refer you to my trusted intergrative practitioners for robust testing). 

🌰All traditional societies, the world  over, soaked in rain water and sun dried their nuts to improve the bio availability and digestibility of them. They knew to do this from trial and error over Millenia. We honour the wisdom of our ancestors by following these ancestral practices in the preparation of our nuts and seeds. 

🌰Activated nuts are not only more digestible and nutritious than raw nuts, they are much more delicious! Once you’ve tried activated nuts, there’s no going back!

🌰 I have been activating nuts since 2006 to crispy perfection to provide the most moorish organic activated nuts with the largest range in Australia. We have strict requirements for soaking times and what must be added to the filtered water that the nuts are soaking in to enhance phytate reduction. We also have strict requirements as to the dehydrating temperature so that it does not exceed 55 degrees Celsius because above that temperature heat-sensitive enzymes are destroyed. Hence why activating nuts can takes days and days in the dehydrator ovens to yield super crispy nuts. If making activated nuts at home, you don’t technically need to dehydrate them so long as you soak, strain and rinse them in filtered water (though you’ll be eating soggy nuts so please refrigerate them to avoid them going mouldy knowing that their fridge shelf life will be greatly reduced compared to dehydrated nuts which have a long shelf life of 6-12 months). 

🌰 Dehydrating is NOT the same as roasting, as roasting heats the nuts to well over 55 degrees thus destroying the heat sensitive enzymes. Roasted nuts are also not soaked so I avoid them. 

🌰 You can extend the shelf life and crispness of activated nuts and seeds by storing them in the fridge. 

🌰 Our range of activated nuts includes almonds, brazils, cashews, hazels, macadamias, pepitas, pecans, walnuts, savoury buckwheat, cinnamon dusted buckwheat, mixed nuts, snack mix and muesli (all gluten free). 

🌰 Each variety of nuts and seeds contains a slightly different balance of macro and micro nutrients to the next variety so that’s why ideally we should be mixing it up and eating a variety of different activated nuts (short of an allergy/food intolerance), just like vegetables. For example, walnuts are high in brain loving omega 3, brazils are high in selenium, macadamias and hazels are relatively low in the pro-inflammatory omega 6 etc etc.  I’m often asked “which activated nut variety is the best?” That’s like asking me “which vegetable is the best?” One of the greatest things you can do for your health is eat a VARIETY of foods. Mix things up! 

🌰 Eat a handful of nuts a day, throw on yogurt, salads, cooked veggies, or grind up into a nut butter or grind up to use as a gluten free flour substitute for baked cakes. Grind up our savoury buckwheat for a gluten-free flour substitute for crumbing meat to make schnitzels, and grind up our cinnamon buckwheat as a gluten free flour substitute for baked cakes and buckwheat pancakes. 

🌰 Our activated nuts are available at Broth Bar & Larder, or via our online store.