Farewell to “Raw” Cacao!

Since the early 1970’s we’ve been doing research about our products, and 45 years on we employ an Ethics Researcher to do the research so you don’t have to. It’s the Santos Organics difference. We ensure we only serve clean food and natural products that are good for you and the earth. We value our honesty and transparency about them. Research here has become more detailed in the 21st century and we continue to invest resources to ensure you can shop peacefully online, or at all our retail locations.

Raw Cacao Needs to be Relabelled

Recent research unveils a new discovery that is changing the way we label one of our customers most beloved products - but don’t worry the product doesn’t go anywhere! It’s the same as it’s always been - just with a new name. There is no classification as to what keeps a product “raw” so we are using our common sense. Essentially if heat is applied beyond ‘normal everyday means’ then we assume it changes the cells in some way, shape or form. Resulting in the product no longer being raw. So the news! Our research shows us that “raw” cacao may not actually be as raw as our suppliers and importers once believed. Dammit hey! It’s a matter of the processing and drying of the cacao beans that leads us to this necessary change.

Cacao Processing Has Changed

Dealing with Cacao at an industrial scale requires processes that change the way cacao is harvested, processed and delivered. With the modern day processes employed there is no temperature control during fermentation processes. Although keeping the beans at a “low temperature” during processing is possible, it is not easily monitored and guaranteed. This makes it necessary to change our labelling to reduce any misconception. In countries where cacao beans are harvested the temperatures can be pretty high. When cacao beans are dried on metal trays it may lead to higher temperatures than one would deem appropriate in keeping the cacao “raw”. As stated however, there is no classification of what keeps it ‘raw’ or not when it comes to food labelling. “The concept of raw cocoa is actually very vague and nobody really knows what it means. There are no regulations over Raw Cocoa products with varying temperatures of 40° to 53°” claims one industry advocate who prefers to remain anonymous.

Lack of labelling law restrictions

So Raw Cacao may not actually be 100% raw. The lack of controls and lack of restrictions on labelling make it hard for everyone to understand. Chocolate Alchemy have written a very in depth article about it here if you wish to explore it further. It’s full of information about a range of cacao products and how they are normally processed. Here at Santos Organics we always choose the safe and honest option so we are changing our labelling of our bulk Cacao to ‘Natural Cacao’ instead of ‘Raw Cacao’. This high quality product will be the same, but don’t want any confusion around our labelling.

Changing the way our food funds clean & healthy futures

It’s been 45 years of servicing our community with true value, honesty and high quality food and natural products. We have gratitude to everyone who continues to support us turn their purchases into funding and donations for environmental and social projects.