Steel Cut Oatmeal with Strawberries and Cacao Nibs

I recently returned from Belize where I visited the amazing Che’il Chocolate Factory in Stann Creek. I never really gave much thought to how chocolate was made before this tour, and now that I know, I am in awe.

I always find it so fascinating how ancient people discovered things. To make chocolate, you have to open up this huge fruit, ferment it, dry it, hull it, and then grind it up. This is a multi-week process. It is nothing short of amazing every time you place a piece of chocolate in your mouth.

During that trip, I bought a bag of cacao nibs and have been working them into my diet for a couple weeks now. Super bitter, these little bits of cacao are the result of fermentation, drying, and roasting the cacao beans. They are not sweetened, so nibbling them by the handful, though healthy, makes me feel like I am chewing on coffee beans.

However, on steel cut oats, paired with a bit of fruit, they are breakfast made in heaven. I can’t even get over how much I love this oatmeal bowl. I seriously go to bed excited in anticipation to eat this in the morning. It is that good.

Cacao nibs are fermented and dried cocoa beans, deshelled, and broken into pieces. They are a rich source of antioxidants like procyanidins and flavonoids, and are thought to be beneficial for cardiac health. When eaten in this state, they are a healthy chocolate and great for you, much more so than when mixed with cocoa butter and sugar to make what is more commonly thought of as chocolate.

Grab a bag of these and try this simple chocolatey breakfast tomorrow and you will be glad you did.