Small Business Spotlight Raw Cacao: Recipe for Success by Jessica Maclean for the City of Sedona
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Small Business Spotlight Raw Cacao: Recipe for Success By Jessica MacLean for the City of Sedona Whole Foods locations, all four Erewhon then stone-ground in granite grinders at a just enough caffeine.” Lesslie is also planning markets, and many independent health food low temperature to help preserve vitamins, to work on packaging and with a co-packer. stores. Somehow, she’s fi gured out how to antioxidants, and minerals. Lesslie grinds Then to grow as big as possible nationally so ship chocolate from the Arizona heat to much the cacao butter and ground beans with more people can experience the true benefi ts of the country. Check out her online shop at coconut palm sugar, herbs, and other unique of chocolate and eating chocolate as a food https://chocolita.com. ingredients for 24 to 48 hours. The result is instead of a treat. She’d eventually like a Chocolitas are made at and distributed a smooth texture that’s as pure as possible, small team of chocolatiers to make truffl es at from Synergy, a shared commercial kitchen with no GMOs. Synergy and someone to help with shipping. and lounge in west Sedona where you can Cacao contains antioxidants, fi ber, “As an entrepreneur, there are small purchase exotic fl avors. Try the Strawberry magnesium, and iron. Plus, anandamide, an successes. Buying my automatic tempering Passion, or for a deep, rich taste, one of endocannabinoid known as the bliss molecule machine, I thought, ‘wow, I’m spending the dark bars. Order a drink with Chocolita that also works with PEA. Research shows nearly $10,000 on a piece of equipment’.” couverture—a special blend of un-tampered PEA to have anti-infl ammatory properties. Lesslie’s fi rst Kickstarter campaign failed, A box of beautiful, handmade, raw chocolate—melted in. Yes, it’s as good as it Using heirloom Arriba Nacional Cacao beans but her second campaign brought in nearly chocolates from Chocolita, with cacao fruit pods at Synergy Sedona. sounds. from a protected, indigenous tree species in $20,000 before fees and fulfi lling orders from campaign backers. With that and winning the SEDONA, Ariz. -- First place winner at the Moonshot Pioneer Pitch, Chocolita is feeling Moonshot AZ Pioneer Pitch event in 2019, the love. Sarah Ann Lesslie—Owner of Chocolita in Recently, Lesslie was awarded a Verde Valley Sedona—handmakes raw chocolates with Regional Economic Organization (VVREO) loan. wild-crafted ingredients. What led Chocolita Sedona Economic Development Director Molly to this win and her business success? Spangler says, “This loan will help Chocolita Lesslie studied with Master Chocolatier to expand its business reach. Funds are being Kelly Johnson at ChocolateTree after a cacao used for new packaging and distribution of ceremony left her fascinated and feeling her delicious products. Chocolita is part of a great. growing food and beverage industry both in “Someone told me I should meet Kelly and Sedona and broader Verde Valley. I’m excited coincidentally he was at a small chai party to watch her and this local industry fl ourish.” thrown by my roommate the same day. That The Sedona Economic Development was 2005.” Lesslie then began her journey as Department helps businesses create a chocolatier. and keep jobs and opportunities in our Since her mother and aunt are diabetic, community. For information on revolving Lesslie wanted to make a chocolate that they loans, business education, and other business and other diabetics could enjoy. She uses Chocolita Owner Sarah Ann Lesslie (left), pictured with Synergy Lounge support resources, contact Sedona Economic Coconut Palm Sugar, with a low-glycemic and Community Kitchen Owner Sierra Shafer (right). Development Director Molly Spangler at index of 30 to 35. [email protected]. “I also had dysmenorrhea, so I tried “Chocolate used to only be for royalty Ecuador helps farmers earn a living wage. combining my study of herbs and chocolate because it was such a powerful food and Valuable in agroforestry, sustainable farming, to ease the pain. It worked for me, so I then it started to be used by warriors. When and biodiversity, they’re typically shade- shared it with friends; they loved it.” Lesslie Spaniards brought chocolate back from grown and provide habitat for other species. didn’t stop with this Moontime bar. “Some Central America, one of it’s fi rst uses in “An organic certifi er, Stellar, has certifi ed people wanted the bars without added herbs, Europe was blended with herbs and taken our ingredients organic. But pine pollen in our so I started making the Nude bar: vegan, like medicine from a pharmacist,” Lesslie Pine Pollen and Lemon bar is wild-harvested. raw white chocolate that’s evenly blended, explained. Think Billy Crystal in “The Princess It’s not farmed, so it can’t really be certifi ed tempered, and not too sweet. I eventually Bride” when Westley was mostly dead. organic in those growing conditions,” said added two other fl avors without herbs. Dark Thanks to preservatives, refi ned sugar, other Lesslie, who minored in Sustainability at M:lk is a vegan version of a darker milk additives, and heavy processing like roasting Arizona State University. “Since the Pine chocolate, and Dark & Sweet is an 80% dark at a high temperature, chocolate often winds Pollen and Lemon bar is more of a power bar, chocolate bar.” up in the junk food category. But when pure, its name is soon changing to Power. All the Offi cially founded in 2014, Chocolita it’s known as a health food. varieties will eventually be rebranded that products are now carried nationally by over When making raw chocolate, cacao beans way.” 150 stores, including more than 60 Natural are cold-pressed to remove the fat, which “I’m currently working on a new matcha or Take your pick of vegan, raw chocolate fl avors, Grocers across the United States, several is made into cacao butter. The beans are green tea bar as a sweet morning treat with dark or white, with or without herbs. .