(Image of Richart Chocolates from this flickr album)

As I mentioned on Monday, one of my main concerns this week was what to do about chocolate. I'd been in the habit of having a little chocolate at the end of most days, but I know that the kind of chips I've been eating have a fair amount of ingredients on the label. Actually, they have six (including a stabilizer) and I know that some of my favorite organic chocolate brands can have even more—particularly if they have flavorings added to them. Which in the grand scheme of things is probably not that big of a deal, but given that chocolate is something I regularly consume, it does seem important that I'm paying more attention to the label.

That said, over the course of this week, I've been very surprised to find that this hasn't been as much of an issue at all—I've pretty satisfied by the fruit and homemade peach crisp that I've eaten over the past few days. So that's good. But I'm definitely still curious toknow how chocolate factors into all of this. Is such a thing as minimally processed chocolate?

My firststep instarting to figure this out was to call Aaron at Taza Chocolate. I tried their bars at the Fancy Food show a few months ago and remembered the slightly granulated texture—I figured that it likely was due to the way that the beans are processed. I was right. Aaron explained that while most chocolate makers grind and conch their beans (conching is a process that grinds down the cocoa and sugar particles so much that the tongue can't differentiate between the particles—which helps smooth out flavors, or hide less than desired flavors), they skip the conching.

The company puts a lot of time into sourcing high quality, sustainable, cocoa that has a lot of the flavor chemicals that they like in their chocolate (which makes it have very strong berry flavors in it). The conching process would eliminate those nuances. Their production process (read more about it here) is as minimal as they can make it and they actually use a type of traditional Mexican stone mill (known as a molino) that has been used to make chocolate for hundreds of years.

Their Cocoa Puro, which comes in a round disc like other Mexican chocolate you may have seen, only has two ingredients: organic cocoa beans and organic, unbleached cane sugar. I loved hearing about the process (and their factory, which sounds like an awesome place to work!) and Aaron sent me a wicked looking chocolate chip cookie recipe, which I'm going to have try soon—I'll share the results when I get baking! I also learned of a two other ways to enjoy less processed chocolate (both from our helpful followers on twitter!):

Cocoa nibs: These are simply roasted cocoa beans that have been separated from their husks and broken into tiny pieces, which apparently are great in baked goods like cookies (these macaroons sound delish!), muffins and pancakes, as well as ground with coffee and added to smoothies.

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Raw cocoa: Apparently raw cocoa powder is great for making treats like no-bake brownies and also for adding to smoothies. And, you can even try your hand at making chocolate at home (though no matter how ambitious of a cook I may think I am, I'd rather leave that to the experts who do it so well!) This also appears to be an excellent antioxidant source. I know that this is only skimming the surface of this issue, but I feel like I have a few new options for future chocolate fixes of the minimally-processed variety!

Read more of a Week Without Processed Foods: 

Day One: Background
Day One: Dinner
Day Two: Breakfast
Day Two: Lunch 
Day Three: Breakfast
Day Three: The Time Factor
Day Three: Dinner Party
Day Four: Lunch
Day Four: Dinner
The Chocolate Conundrum
A Bit of History
What I’ve Learned (Plus Resources for Cooking and Eating Whole Foods)

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