Samantha Madell's Page

I frequently receive inquiries from raw foodies who are seeking enzyme-rich, cold-processed cacao - so I decided to educate myself on this subject.

It is extremely frustrating to me that many of the raw foodies I've encountered simply don't know what they're talking about. Rather, they tend to believe (and repeat) the dubious marketing "information" that they hear from businesses which are trying to sell them over-priced raw food products.

Following is what I've learned about enzymes and cacao… Continue

Over the years, many journalists and bloggers have portrayed Rainforest Alliance certification as being equivalent to (or even better than) organic and Fairtrade certification. Unfortunately, this simply isn't the case.

In truth, the Rainforest Alliance certification standards contain none of the best aspects of either organic or Fairtrade certification. (And, as has been discussed quite extensively in… Continue

I am a vocal advocate of organic agriculture, so I was more than a little bit surprised to receive an email recently from Gatewick, inviting me to submit a competitive tender for the procurement of insecticides for the Ghana Cocoa Board.

According to the document I was sent (attached below), the Ghana Cocoa Board has allocated a budget this year for 1,000 drums, plus 2,000 cartons, plus 165,000 litres of insecticide:… Continue

(This blog post follows on from my earlier post, Fermentation 101).

In 2007, a team of archaeologists unearthed strong evidence that "humans began exploiting cacao beans for alcohol before they started using them to make chocolate" [1].

In the Ulua Valley in Honduras, these archaeologists discovered traces of theobromine in pottery vessels used for alcoholic drinks. The vessels date back to at least 1,100BC, pu… Continue

In this blog post, I'm attempting to untangle the fairly complex terminology relating to the subject of chocolate and health. To this end, I've put together a diagram, which is part flowchart, part glossary (scroll down to view).

But here's some basic information and terminology to get started with:

Free radicals
When it comes to maintaining good health, free radicals are bad news. A free radical is an unstable and highly reactive molecule that contains an unpaired electron. Free radica… Continue