Chocolate has a secret life.
One where, instead of being formed into industrial bars, women combine it by hand with local herbs to make drinks. One where it is a healer, not a creator of addiction. One where it’s revered - held so sacred that it’s used in ceremony and as currency, not bought for a few pennies, wrapper discarded. One where it’s bitter, potent and intense, not sweet and sickly. And one where nobody feels guilt when they imbibe it.
There’s no-one more qualified to open the door to this world than Marcos Patchett, author of the 700-page The Secret Life of Chocolate. This book, which covers everything you could possibly want to know about cacao - including how it was ancestrally used, it’s pharmacology and it’s mythology - will completely change your view of cacao.
“There’s a lifetime’s worth of research in this book.”
Come join us as we dive into a cacao-flavoured world!
The run-down:
1:52 About the book
7:20 Why Marcos wrote the book
12:19 The effect of imbibing extracted plant compounds v. the whole plant
15:10 How cacao was originally drunk and how chocolate is eaten in the West now
20:25 The book-writing high point
26:40 Alison, Andrea and Marcos talk about their relationships with chocolate
34:00 Chocolate and disordered eating
36:58 Cacao’s medicinal effects
44:00 How chocolate’s effects are mediated by the eater’s intention
59.40 The cultural side of cacao's history
1:07:25 Self-medicating with chocolate as part of disordered eating
1.10:25 Practical steps to start eating chocolate ancestrally/authentically
“It blew my mind to realise I’ve been blocking benefits of chocolate by feeling guilt” Alison
*Due to equipment failure, this episode does not have as good audio quality as normal. But it's totally listenable and wonderful content!*
If you want to buy your own copy of the book, Marcos is offering a 20% discount. Use the code CHOC20 on the publishers website:
For those in the US: https://bit.ly/3dVRX1d (https://bit.ly/3dVRX1d)
For rest of world: https://www.aeonbooks.co.uk (https://www.aeonbooks.co.uk)
“The modern research suggests quite strongly that cacao is protective against heart disease and stroke and type 2 diabetes.” Marcos
Resources mentioned:
https://ancestralkitchen.com/2021/05/11/6-six-books-we-love/ (Our 6 Books We Love episode )
https://www.bookfinder.com/book/9780961423414/ (Jonathan Ott - The Cacahuatl Eater )
https://seasonsofmyheart.com/ (Susana Trilling - Seasons of my Heart)
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30303667383&searchurl=an%3Dantonil%26sortby%3D17%26tn%3Dmama%2Bcoca&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1 (Mama Coca)
“Only eating the chocolate mindfully produced a positive increase in mood” Marcos
Where to find Marcos and his work:
Marcos’ book’s website: https://thesecretlifeofchocolate.com/ (https://thesecretlifeofchocolate.com/)
Marcos’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nocturnalherbalist/ (https://www.instagram.com/nocturnalherbalist/)
Marcos’ herbalist website: http://nocturnalherbalist.co.uk (http://nocturnalherbalist.co.uk)
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCB6flGxGcU9OeQOU_8XFZkw/videos (You Tube The Nocturnal Herbalist)
Sourcing your own cacao:
“You learn so much doing it from scratch, and the quality is so much better” Alison
To source your own cacao as beans: Look for raw (i.e. not previously roasted) Criollo or Forastero beans.
Europe: Where Alison has sourced organic cacao beans:
http://macrolibrarsi.it (http://macrolibrarsi.it) and http://cacaopuro.com (http://cacaopuro.com)
She is currently working on European sourcing of a known single-origin bean, in home-chocolate-maker quantities. Stay connected with her if you’d like to know what she finds.
USA:
https://www.omfoods.com/products/cacao-cocoa-organic-cacao-beans-whole-unpeeled-raw-100-arriba-criollo (Organic arriba criollo cacao beans)
https://www.cacaobahia.com/products/forastero-cacao (Forastero Cacao)
To source ready-made roasted...