What is Cacao blooming & can i consume bloomed Cacao?

You open your box of Cacao and instead of the silky brown chocolate-y goodness you expect, it looks a little well mouldy? gone off? 

WAIT. Before you panic that a) you won’t be able to make your morning Cacao (and trust us, you don’t want to see us without our morning Cacao) or b) that’s a hundred bucks down the drain - let us explain a bit about Cacao blooming.

Cacao blooming can look a number of different ways. Maybe an ombre’d brown tone around the edges. Maybe a white-ish powdery sheen across the surface or a pattern of speckles and blotches. 

First myth to debunk is that this is NOT mould.

So what is it?

Did you know this is kind of a good thing?

Whilst it might look off-putting, blooming occurs in Ceremonial Cacao because it hasn’t been tempered. Tempering, that products such as chocolate and cocoa  deliberately go through, is the process of gradient heating and cooling to create more uniform fat crystals. However, this continual heating process depletes the nutritional and bioactive benefits of the Cacao it contains. Because our Ceremonial Cacao hasn’t been tempered, if it does encounter temperature change then the fat crystals are more able to move around. Some cacao companies do temper their cacao paste to prevent this, but as we want to provide cacao in its most natural form we do not. 

How to prevent Cacao blooming?

If you have Cacao that hasn’t bloomed and you wish to keep it that way, keep it in a consistent temperature (room or below), out of direct sunlight and avoid transporting it between different environments (i.e hot to cold). 

Seleno Health does our very best to prevent blooming occuring before it arrives to you. Our blocks are boxed in a controlled temperature before being stored in insulated vessels for transportation. We also analyse our paste when it arrives in NZ to ensure it’s potent and therapeutic qualities have been maintained. If you do receive bloomed Cacao, be assured you can continue to use it as normal.