Nibble Away Naturally

Chocolate Snack Aims to Bring Healthy Back

By Warren Rojas

Courtesy of + Ferro

Self-proclaimed “chocoholic” Laura Graves is hoping her new Cacao Nibbles will help bring the benefits of dark chocolate to light.

Graves says she started out selling homemade sweets at local farmer’s markets, but was quickly swamped with requests for more guilt-free snacks. “You can’t eat truffles every day without gaining weight,” she maintains. So Graves began experimenting with some of her favorite snack ingredients, only to emerge with bite-sized clusters of dried fruit, puffed quinoa (a popular South American grain) and cacao nibs, all drenched in an antioxidant-rich, dark chocolate shell.

“It’s intended to be a health-food snack,” the marketing exec-turned-amateur confectioner asserts.

And with tempting combinations like date-coconut (packed with chewy, shredded coconut), apricot-cranberry (pleasantly tart), blueberry-lavender-plum (subtle jabs of understated flavor) and mango-apple, you can at least argue you’re getting some fruit in every bittersweet handful.

Each 5-ounce tub of Cacao Nibbles contains nearly two dozen pieces and retails for about $6.49; available locally at Artfully Chocolate in Del Ray and Alexandria’s My Organic Market. For more information, visit: www.cacaonibbles.com

(March 2007)

Tags: Cacao Nibbles, Chew on this, chocolate