Maqui Luvju - Raw Organic Chocolate

Nutrition Information

Per Serve 35g

Health Benefits

Maqui Berry

The benefits of the Maqui Berry are many and varied; read this report from Food Chemistry for the full details.

Our raw freeze-drying process retains maximum nutrients meaning that our Raw Organic Maqui Powder is a true wholefood supplement. With the highest antioxidant quantity of any fruit, Maqui is reported to stimulate weight loss, delays the ageing process and detoxifies and cleanses the body. Research is also showing that it's a powerful anti-inflammatory and contains high levels of polyphenols and anthocyanins.

Antioxidants are substances that delay the oxidation process, which is the natural deterioration of cells leading to ageing. A growing body of literature points to the importance of natural antioxidants from many plants, which may be used to reduce cellular oxidative damage, not only in foods, but also in the human body. This may provide protection against a wide range of chronic diseases. The ORAC test measures a food’s antioxidant ability to neutralise free radicals and potentially mitigate health imbalances. The USDA recommend up to 5,000 ORAC units per day and more if under any of the various stressors most of us face each day. Most individuals get only 1,200 ORAC units or less per day; using a wholefood supplement such as Maqui as part of a healthy balanced diet will ensure that you're getting enough antioxidants to reap the maximum benefit.  

Anthocyanins are antioxidant flavonoids that protect many body systems and have some of the strongest physiological effects of any plant compounds. They're produced by plants for self-protection against sun, irradiation, diseases and biological enemies.

Laboratory research shows that anthocyanins:

• Reduce the coagulation of blood platelets, inhibiting formation of blood clots involved in stroke, pulmonary embolism, peripheral vascular disease and heart attack.
• Promote higher levels of “good” cholesterol, HDL. 
• Inhibit oxidation of “bad” cholesterol, LDL.
•  Neutralize oxygen radicals.
• Down-regulate enzymes leading to inflammatory reactions that cause pain and stimulate other diseases.

Cacao

Antioxidants

Raw Cacao beans contain 10 grams of flavonol antioxidants per 100 grams, which is an incredible 10%. Research has also demonstrated that the antioxidants in cacao are highly stable and easily available to human metabolism. In the adjacent table you can see that our Loving Earth Raw Chocolate has more antioxidants than Goji Berries and Acai Berries. The ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scale was developed by the United States Department of Agriculture to measure the ability of antioxidants to absorb free radicals, which normally cause cell and tissue damage. The higher the ORAC score, the higher the level of antioxidants present in the food.

Magnesium for the Heart and Brain

Raw cacao is the primary dietary source of magnesium, the most deficient mineral in western civilisation. Magnesium is the most important mineral for a healthy functioning heart. It also plays a key role in producing energy for the neurons in the brain from glucose. So when there is an abundance of magnesium the brain works with clarity and focus.

Mood elevators and Anti-depressants

Cacao is a great source of serotonin, dopamine, anandamide and phenylethylamine (PEA), four well-studied neurotransmitters, which are associated with feelings of well being and help alleviate depression. Both PEA and Anandamide (the bliss chemical) are found in abundance in the brains of happy people and are particularly released when we are feeling happy. Both of these nuerotransmitters are present in raw cacao in large enough quanitities to affect the brain and lift our moods. Cacao also contains monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO Inhibitors) that keep neurotransmitters in the bloodstream for longer without being broken down.

We have all experienced the positive feelings associated with eating chocolate, now we have access to pure raw unadulterated chocolate in the form of organic raw cacao. This is much more potent than the processed chocolate and doesn't have any sugar or dairy products blocking the positive effects of all the goodies in raw cacao. My experience is that eating 11 raw cacao beans is enough to experience a blissful sense of well being.

How to Use

Our Maqui Berry Chocolate Luvju is a delicious energising snack for whenever you need a boost.

Processing

Maqui Berry

Our Maqui Berry Powder is obtained from freeze-drying and milling the frozen 100% pure Maqui berry fruit.

The Maqui fruit is obtained from an indigenous Chilean plant known as the Maqui or Chilean Wineberry Tree (Aristotelia chilensis).The berries are then washed and frozen at a minimum of -35 degrees C, before being crushed, pureed and having their seeds removed. Finally, the fruit is freeze-dried and ground into powdered form.

All ingredients conform to E.U. and FDA food laws and regulations.

Cacao

First of all, the cacao pods are harvested from the trees and cracked open. The beans are then taken out and fermented. The level of fermentation affects the flavour; we do a low fermentation of about 45 degrees C, as otherwise the temperatures can get quite high, which affects the structure of the nutrients. The main thing that Loving Earth does differently to other chocolate makers is that we don't roast the raw cacao beans before we process them. The standard procedure in the chocolate industry is to roast the raw cacao, which helps bring out the flavour. It removes a lot of the microbiological contamination they might contain, but it also removes some of the valuable antioxidants contained within. What we do instead is wash them with a citric-based organic disinfectant. Afterwards, they're dried in large commercial dehydrators, at controlled temperatures, before being winnowed into nibs, which basically means taking the skin off them. Then we grind them into liquor, and finally we press them into powder and butter.

Basically, we get five products from this process. We get raw cacao beans, and because we've disinfected and washed them you can eat them - raw! We get raw cacao nibs, which are the beans without the skin. We get raw cacao liquor, which is the nibs ground into a paste. Then when we take the the liquor and put it into a very high-pressure press, which presses all the fat and butter out of it. So the end product is the raw cacao butter and then this hard cake that's milled into raw cacao powder. 1kg of liquor is about 50% fat, so when you press the liquor you get about 40% cacao butter and 60% powder. The powder retains about 10% fat content after pressing, and all the antioxidants plus a lot of the nutrients are concentrated in that powder.

We buy and import these five products, which we use to make our raw chocolate from scratch. When indigenous communities such as our friends in Peru manage to add as much value as possible at the point of origin, not only do we support agricultural industry, but also the development of that community. We get the five basic materials we need to make our chocolate, and they earn more, allowing them to further develop infrastructure to process their cacao.

Packaging

Since we wanted to invest all aspects of Luvju with meaning, the packaging we’ve created is based around the classic heart symbol, formed by placing two of our drop-shaped logos together.

We worked for a long time to get the first compostable metalised film that’s just become available in Europe. We’ve had it laminated to a paper finish on the outside, so it’s actually 96% plant-based compostable material, and then designed a beautiful box that it all goes in with an inventive little dispenser printed on recycled board with vegetable inks.

The artwork has also had a lot of time put into it, with a unique design on the front of each box incorporating totems which reflect the spirit of each of the flavours. With our Maqui Berry Chocolate Luvju we’ve got a baby condor, which symbolises energy, strength and rebirth, due to the inclusion of the antioxidants.