In the first episode of our ongoing collaboration with Therapy Kitchen, Charlotte shows us how to make a basic cup of cacao (with a few flourishes) and challenges us to be investigative and intentional with the ingredients we use to nourish ourselves.
Without further ado, heres more from Charlotte:
As my partnership with Cacao.Co finds more playful, creative, meaningful paths, and my younger self looks on with intrigued delight. During turbulent teen times, I would stuff away as many bars of chocolate as money and time would afford.
Today though, I know it isn’t just the magic of indulging in the cacao bean that lifts my spirits; it is being consciously connected to the whole process of making a cup of brown elixir, taking time, and adding in the spice of love.
Now making food with love, relating to the ingredients isn’t just a nice idea, expressed in the Mexican fairytale ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ but was shown by Dr Masaru Emoto’s water experiments to have tangible results. Water treated with loving kindness formed beautiful, symmetrical crystals, whilst water ignored and disparaged produced chaotic, broken, or “ugly” shapes. This explains the biochemistry of kitchen therapy… so let’s have a go.
How to brew a simple cup of cacao to soothe the soul
First:
choose a cacao whose heritage is clear, good and trusted, arriving in your kitchen from as direct a source as possible, undergoing no or minimal processing.
Then:
prepare a few adornments and aromas to begin the alchemy of attention*. Today I have used a sprig of thyme (we all need more of that!), a twist of salt, and a squeeze of lemon to infuse filtered water as it slowly heats, but you can go plain if you like or add any flavours that suit you, think what for you goes well with chocolate.
Don’t Rush:
taking time to notice each part of the party you are inviting, savouring each and every one.
Stir:
in a couple of generous spoons of your ready-grated pure, raw cacao to meet, melt, and muse in their dressing room. Ready to make an entrance, their cup carefully chosen, gently warmed, and prepared to receive the nourishing gift from the Mayan Goddess, a velvet elixir...
From Dr. Masaru Emoto’s experiments with water (and later rice), we know what we’ve always known
– the vibe matters!
Charlotte’s Glossary
*The alchemy of attention:
is the ingredient of magic, your presence, sense of play and pleasure, brings to the cup of conscious cacao, just right for you, today.
Charlotte's book 'Kitchen Therapy' is available for sale on our website now.
