The Alchemy Of Mandala Chocolate
“Alchemy” is an ancient term historically associated with a range of different practices and traditions that spanned not just space and time – across centuries and continents – but also cultures.
When we use the term “Alchemy” at Mandala Chocolate, we are talking about the balancing of unique and special elements that come together the create something greater than the sum of their parts.
This is not just exemplified in our powerful raw superfood chocolate recipes, but in the broader work of Mandala Naturals as a whole – the deep work that we are doing to re-write both narratives and practices of fundamental cultural elements of modern society, like food and agriculture, economy, and belief systems about what kind of world we can live in!
Herbal Alchemy & Mandala Superfood Chocolate
Mandala Chocolate superfood bars are not just our favorite superfoods mixed in with cacao and popped into a package. On the contrary, years of research on and experimentation with the plants and foods used, the flavors and textures produced, and the production process itself has yielded a finely tuned superfood chocolate bar that is more than the sum of it’s parts.
Nutritional Alchemy
Mandala’s herbal cacao bars leverage the multiple interrelated effects of herbs, cacao and other ingredients on the systems of the body to make the most nutritious chocolate in the world.
Nutrient Delivery
Withing the production process. the alchemy begins with the slow stone grinding of ingredients. This slow grind and the careful tempering of chocolate makes the fine particles in the chocolate more bioavailable and easily digested, or even absorbed through the mucous membranes in the mouth!
Both the careful tempering of the chocolate, which locks the ingredients into a tight crystalline structure, and the powerful antioxidants in cacao and other superfoods like ginger, tulsi, and cinnamon help ensure that the vitamins and other nutrients are well preserved and therefore ready to be absorbed and used by the body.
Cacao‘s theobromine and cinnamon (in the superfood chocolate bars) increases blood-flow, improving circulation and the distribution of nutrients through the body.
The interactions of these herbs are one part of the alchemy of Mandala’s superfood chocolate bars.
Healthy Energy & Balancing Blood Sugar
The keto superfood chocolate bars Cacao Alchemy and Wild Appalachia Chai have an extremely low glycemic index due to their carefully chosen sweet flavors and complex carbohydrates.
Licorice is not only an ancient medicinal herb, but an effective no-carb sweetener used in both keto chocolate bars.
Lucuma, yacon and mesquite are both uniquely flavored low glycemic index, complex-carbohydrate sweeteners that contribute to the synergy of keto superfood chocolate bar flavor.
However, it doesn’t stop there, inulin in ingredients like yacon have been shown to help maintain and improve blood sugar regulation [1].
Inulin isn’t the only blood sugar support. Reshi, a mushroom that is in all of the superfood bars and Ashwagandha in Cacao Alchemy both have been shown to support healthy blood sugar regulation [2,3 ]. The tulsi in both keto chocolate bars supports liver health, which
In the CBD Alchemy CBD chocolate bar and Cloud Forest chocolate bar, coconut palm sugar, a relatively (compared to cane sugar) low glycemic index sugar is used to sweeten. This makes for a superfood chocolate bar with a familiar level of sweetness, but with much more going on behind the scenes than you average sugar+chocolate “candy” bar.
The careful choice of sweeteners and blood-sugar supporting herbs contributes to the nutritional alchemy, as well as the nuance and subtle flavors of Mandala Natural’s wonderful sweetened and ketogenic superfood chocolate bars.
Flavor Alchemy
The Best Ingredients
While traditional alchemy is all about turning lead into gold, it’s not really that simple. Mandala’s Alchemy is about the synergy of elements creating something more… but ultimately the quality of the ingredients used is a hugely important factor!
While all of Mandala’s ingredients are the best out there, there are a few that are really worth highlighting!
Raw Tahitian Vanilla Beans
We source the best vanilla possible, and it’s a part of the foundation of the more conventional chocolate flavors like part of what makes classic flavors like Vanilla Orchid and Lavender Citrus, as well as the rich flavor of the CBD Alchemy bar.
Celtic Sea Salt
Not all salts are created equal. The flavor profile of natural Celtic Sea Salt is an important part of Mandala’s flavor alchemy!
Coconut Palm Sugar
Not only does coconut palm sugar have a lower glycemic index than cane sugar, it also afford a different flavor. Mandala’s bars feature a complex and mature dark chocolate flavor that’s different than the average chocolate ‘candy bar’, and the choice of coconut palm sugar, among other things, contributes to that in both the superfood Cloud Forest and CBD Alchemy bars, as well as the more familiar Lavendar Citrus and Vanilla Orchid.
Low Carb Superfood and Herbal Sweeteners
If you’ve ever eaten roasted cacao beans straight, you know they’ve got a bitter taste. You may even love munching on cacao nibs… but still, Mandala’s low carb keto superfood bars are the peak of mandala’s flavor alchemy.
A delicately balanced array of complex carbohydrate based and even protein rich superfoods (yacon, lucuma, maca, sprouted brown rice (powder), mesquite for example) and no-sugar herbal sweeteners (licorice, fennel, and cinnamon in particular) are used in both Cacao Alchemy and Appalachian Wild Chai to make them not only taste rich and smooth, but also make sure they pack the energy needed to keep you going!
Subtle Balance of Flavors
But ultimately, it’s not just choice and quality ingredients that make for Alchemy; it’s the balance!
Rob Lenfestey spent years developing and tweaking the recipes that make these bars, for both flavor and health.
It comes out in nuances choices like the specific choice in the variety of cinnamon to the balance and integration of select superfoods like baobab in Cloud Forest or the complex spice interactions that contribute to the special flare of the Appalachian Wild Chai flavor, which is indeed based on Chai spices – but when’s the last time you had – an amazing tasting! – chocolate chai dish? Almost assuredly never, but here it is, and it’s a wonder on many levels!
Socio-Environmental Alchemy
The vision of Mandala Chocolate isn’t just about the sacred superfood cacao, in fact, the human enjoyment of cacao is being leveraged to a greater goal: to change how society relates to food, our environment and even business!
Mandala Natural’s Triple Bottom Line and B Corporation Certification
Mandala Naturals is a certified B Corporation and received a Best for Community Honoree recognition in 2019. You can read about Mandala Natural’s impact scores on the B Corporation website. But, what does this mean?
Triple Bottom Line
Most companies prioritize their financial bottom line alone and above all else, aiming not just to ensure it’s in the black, but that it’s a large as possible. Mandala Naturals, and a growing sector of triple bottom line companies, is different: we balance our financial bottom line with environmental and social bottom lines as well.
That means we seek to ensure that our environmental and social impact are not in the red – that we are giving back and building the environment and society through our work.
Investing in the Environment
Ways Mandala Naturals works to ensure we’re investing the environment, rather than destroying it includes using plastic free packaging, well sourced organic ingredients, sustainably wildcrafted organic ingredients, and donating 10% of proceeds back to the planet through environmental projects. We constantly strive to improve our support of the environment by tending to and evaluating our ingredient sourcing and production processes.
Investing in Communities
The mainstream Cacao industry is well known for its terrible impact on communities and the environment, especially where cacao has been grown beyond it’s natural habitat. Mandala Naturals not only works with works with small scale farmer owned and operated cacao farms, but those which are using environmentally sustainable organic methods that support a rich, sustainable ecosystem on the farm.
We take care when sourcing our Cacao. The Minga del Cacao project is one example of the kind of projects we work with and farmers we support.
But it doesn’t just express in through ingredients, but also through our local workers. Mandala isn’t a profit engine, but an engine for change in the lives of those supporting it and in the world. We support the personal growth and support our amazing team of chocolates! From mindful chocolate production to a supportive and meaningful livelihood!
Are you interested in working with Mandala Naturals?
Food as Medicine
The social element of the triple bottom line doesn’t stop with production, it’s built into our chocolate! Mandala looks to change the way people view not just chocolate, but all food!
Mandala Natural’s superfoods are newfangled creations, in fact these foods have been used in traditional medicine the world over for centuries – from Ayurveda and Chinese traditions to indigenous herbal traditions the world over. We’re re-contextualizing both modern chocolate – which in many stores across the U.S. appear in the “candy” section – as well as re-contextualizing and educating about these healthful foods!
We envision a world where people choose their food with care and understand its value and impact.
Never Compromise
You see it on our packaging, and we mean it.
We are committed to following through on this vision all the way down into the details.
This is the alchemy of Mandala Naturals.
From Bean to Bliss
From Our Heart to Yours.