You may have heard of cacao and wondered what it was or how it is different from hot chocolate. Cacao chocolate in its purest form, it is the raw cacao bean fermented and dried into nibs without high temperatures, and then the nibs are milled into a powder and pressed to remove the fat, known as cocoa butter. This is cacao in its purest form. Cocoa powder is made in a more cost effective and timely manner via roasting the beans at high temperatures, which takes away many of the nutrients the cacao bean has to offer.

Cacao has a whole host of health benefits, including being anti-inflammatory, aiding sleep, and reducing cholesterol. Cacao is full of polyphenols, which are naturally occurring antioxidants and is abundant in flavanols. It is the flavanols in that make cacao anti-inflammatory. Cacao can help to lower blood pressure, improve blood sugar levels, and improves the levels of nitric oxide in the blood, which relaxes the muscles of your blood vessels improving blood flow to the brain.

Cacao has positive effects on mental health. It contains serotonin, our happy hormone and mood stabiliser, anandamide, a bliss chemical that produces a feeling of euphoria, and theobromine, a mild stimulant, which is sometimes used to treat depression.

Things you can add to your cacao to not only flavour, but boost its already great benefits...

Ginger: Ginger is anti-inflammatory, great for the immune system, which is perfect with those back to school germs.

Honey: Honey makes it more palatable. Local raw honey or manuka honey has some health benefits, including aiding hay-fever.