I had pleasure of attending Sarah Barber’s most recent workshop – Raw Chocolate for Beginners which came with the reassuring invitation to bring a tupperware container to take some goodies home at the end…

We started with a talk about everything chocolate – from what the beans look like to what sweeteners to use and the best equipment. We also got a chance to taste the raw bean which has an almost paper like coating around the bean which is then crushed to make the nibs.

The first recipe had a cacao-butter base giving a warming background to the chocolate. This was useful to know in terms of playing with flavourings with this base – warmer ones may work better such as orange and spices.

The second recipe came with a coconut butter base, this time lending itself to cooler flavourings such as peppermint. We went for cacao nibs at the base of our heart shaped moulds with a peppermint oil and the result was divine (I have just finished eating one as I write this – all in the interests of research of course)…

We then moved on to a raw food caramac recipe made with cacao butter, lucuma and carob (amongst other things – including Sarah’s ‘secret mix’ which you will have to do the workshop to find out about!). I was fascinated to learn that many ‘superfoods’ such as Lucuma and Maca come from Peru and grow in extremely harsh environments (the theory being that they have developed great properties to survive as a result and these properties are then passed onto us). This time we went for a mulberry filling…

The morning was finished off with a batch of cacao fruit and nut truffles. These were whipped up in the food processor (with a bit of coaxing as the mixture can get a bit dense) and then rolled into balls and rolled in a choice of toppings including dried coconut, raw cacao and sesame seeds.

I also came away with some useful tips including:

1. Keep everything at room temperature to prevent marks appearing on your chocolate.
2. Don’t use a microwave to melt your chocolate (bad for many reasons!) – a porringer is best although a bowl over simmering water can work too.
3. If you are feeling impatient you can set your chocolate in the freezer (although allowing it to set at room temperature reduces the chances of marks).
4. The best way to move filled moulds is by using a chopping board underneath to keep everything flat.
5. Be aware that substituting liquid sweeteners (agave etc) for powdered sweeteners can change the texture of your chocolate.
6. Grate your cacao butter before melting to reduce the chance of over heating it.
7. Chocolate made with a coconut base has a lower melting point and so needs to be kept in the fridge at all times.
8. Give the filled mould a good couple of taps before leaving to set in order to release any air bubbles.
9. Consider using coconut sugar as a good compromise between medium GI and a relatively natural source which hasn’t been over processed.
10. Powder your sweeteners in a grinder to get them super fine helping to get a smoother texture in the end product. Also whizz the whole lot in the Vita-mix for the same reason…

It was a beautiful way to spend a beautiful sunny morning, and I am feeling super inspired to get creative with my raw sweets and branch out into some new recipes for raw chocolate. Thank you Sarah for another great workshop…

You can find out about Pure People’s upcoming workshops at: http://www.pure-people.co.uk/.

This Saturday I treated myself to a Raw Food Feast and Workshop with the lovely Sarah Barber from Pure People. The workshop was run in her homely kitchen in Hove and I was joined by 5 other raw/vegan/health foodie people.

When we arrived all of the ingredients were tantalisingly laid out:

While waiting for everyone to arrive it was great to get a chance to flick through someone else’s raw food cook books. I really liked the look of the ‘Uncook cook book’:

We had been encouraged to arrive hungry as breakfast would be the first thing on the menu. We started with a purple green smoothie – purple from frozen blueberries but still full of green goodness:

The smoothie included sunwarrior vanilla protein powder which I hadn’t come across before:

Apparently adding protein to your smoothies and shakes helps slow down the release of sugar into the bloodstream helping to avoid a sugar rush. Sarah also uses vanilla powder in a lot of her recipes as a calming background flavour.

The smoothie was then swiftly followed by a demonstration of making almond milk:

Which we then enjoyed over some delicious buckwheat granola and grated apple topped with goji berries:

After breakfast, the next obvious step was to move straight onto puddlings! We started with an amazing avocado based chocolate pudding:

This was followed by a demonstration of making a fruit tart with an oat, nut and date crust topped with a creamy pineapple filling:

Next were the main courses with one of my favourite dishes: Olive, Tomato and Pumpkin pate:

This has wonderful strong flavours and looked a treat too:

Sarah then gave us a useful talk about the benefits of eating a raw food diet (apparently providing a great source of enzymes which we need to digest our food and have also been linked to a long life expectancy). She also covered equipment, tips for introducing more raw into your diet and places to buy the more unusual ingredients.

The fun really started when we got to sit down together and share a lunch of the treats that had been made including nori rolls and cabbage wraps which were laid out for us to help ourselves:

All followed by the chocolate pudding which had now set:

Topped with a divine cashew nut cream:

Somewhat full from the day, we were then given a slice of the fruit tart to take home, along with a comprehensive handout with detailed recipes and resources. It was a great workshop and I am now feeling inspired to try some new recipes and ingredients.

It was also great to learn about some of the pop up restaurants that are cropping up locally including: Gourmet Girls Pop up @ Fanny’s of Hanover offering vegan and raw food, and Pure Taste in Haywards Heath offering “gourmet gluten-free and paleo-friendly food (that’s dishes that are free from gluten, dairy, grains, legumes and refined sugar!).”

Thank you Sarah, and if you are tempted to join one of her workshops (which I would highly recommend) you can find out more at: http://www.pure-people.co.uk/workshop-dates.html.