Purple Hearts

Salted chocolate, caramel, açaí tarts... more purple in spirit than in look. This stuff is rich. I mean really rich. So make sure you have someone (or a few someones) to share it with. This also will take you a bit of time, about 3-4 hours. But in the end, you'll get to eat it, and its worth it.

Chocolate Tart Dough

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 Cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
1 Large egg yolk
1 Tsp pure vanilla extract (pls don't use vanilla flavoring, it's just never as good)
1 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1/4 Cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

I use an electric mixer because I just got one, and am obsessed with it, but you could easy hand mix this with a wooden spoon, it will just take a bit longer. Either way, mix butter and confectioners' sugar till smooth. Then add egg yolk and vanilla and mix till smooth.



sift flour and cocoa powder (this makes sure you don't have those evil clumps in your dough) and add to your bowl then mix until just combined; form dough into a disk, seal in plastic wrap, and chill for an hour.



Preheat oven to 325° F. Flour a large surface and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and press into a tart pan. You can either use a 10-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom or smaller individual tart pans - I used heart shaped small tart pans. Chill for about 30 minutes.



To bake, line with parchment paper and beans or weights - I didn't have parchment paper, and used garbanzo beans, which works, they just make small indents in the bottom of your tart - not a big deal. Bake with beans for 15 minutes, then pour the beans out and bake for 5-10 minutes more, or until crust is dry. Move to cooling rack.

Caramel Filling

1/2 Cup water
2 Cups granulated sugar
1/4 Cup light corn syrup
1/2 Cup heavy cream
8 Tbsp(1 stick) unsalted butter
2 Tbsp crème fraîche

Put water, sugar and corn syrup into a large saucepan and simmer and stir occasionally till it begins to turn golden. Turn off heat, and add cream (it will bubble ferociously once you begin to stir, but don't worry, it mellows out quickly). Add butter and crème fraîche and stir till smooth. If your caramel doesn't mix completely at first or you have some harder bits, you can put the pan on very low heat as you stir. Once mixed, let cool but stir occasionally so as not to form a crust on top. Pour into your tart and let it set.



Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream
3 1/2 ounces extra-bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 Scoops Sambazon Freeze-Dried Açaí Powder



Chop chocolate finely and put into a heatproof bowl. Heat cream to a slight boil and pour over chocolate. Let it sit for a moment, and then stir until smooth. Add in açaí powder and mix. While warm, pour into the tarts as the top layer and place tarts in the fridge to set.



To serve, remove tarts from the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to warm up to room temperature, and sprinkle with salt - I used large sea salt.

Adapted from LOTTIE + DOOF, who adapted a recipe from Marlow&Sons.

Sambazon's New Warrior of Change!

Congrats to Joe Chisholm of Waves of Action, you are our newest Warrior of Change. And with that comes $10,000 and the responsibility to make the world a better place - a happier, more sustainable, and more knowledgeable one.



Through Waves of Action, Joe will help to bring awareness and catalyze action among the youth for environmental issues affecting our oceanic environment and cetaceans (whales, porpoises and dolphins). Waves of Action will engage students around the world to make their own films about environmental issues of their choice. Joe, we look forward to seeing the film tour the world and watching your movement grow.


To everyone else, thanks for participating, voting, submitting, listening. And stay tuned to this blog, we’ll have updates from Joe as he goes on his voyage of oceanic welfare.

The Game Changer Smoothie

I’ve always been into starting the day with a good breakfast and I used to think a smoothie made with some orange juice, a banana, maybe some frozen berries and some cheap whey protein got the job done. But then we discovered açaí in Brazil and I started learning about all these other organic superfood ingredients I could throw into my Vitamix blender - it was a complete game changer. We live in a day and age where we have access to so many amazing foods, so as we start a new year I encourage you to find some smoothie recipes that make you feel amazing. Here’s one of my favorites that packs some serious nutrition.



I start with half a banana and some organic chocolate hemp milk from my friends at Manitoba Harvest (hemp is rich in Omega 3s and it tastes better, especially the chocolate, and is nutritionally superior to soy). Then I throw in a pack of our Pure Fuzion Açaí, it’s just pure açaí and acerola (which has 10x the vitamin C of OJ), and add another Original Açaí Smoothie Pack, because I’m a 2 pack-a-day kinda guy. Lastly the extras: Amazing Grass Organic Supergreens, Organic maca powder (some say it makes you “strong like bull”), Manitoba Hemp Protein Powder (I like to have about 10g vegan based protein in the morning). Top it all off with some organic honey I get at my local farmers market (sweeten to taste).



1/2 Banana
1 Sambazon Pure Fuzion Smoothie Pack
1 Sambazon Original Smoothie Pack
1 Cup of Chocolate Hemp Bliss
1 Tbsp Amazing Grass Superfood powder
2 Tbsp Manitoba Hemp Protein Powder
1 Tsp Maca powder
A drizzle of honey (to taste)

Enjoy and we’d love to hear what’s in your morning smoothie, so share your favorite recipes with us on our Facebook page.


Purple Smiles,
Jeremy Black, Chief Brand Officer

Glycemic Index vs Load? What is Low Glycemic?

The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates foods (on a scale from 0 to 100) based on their effect on blood glucose levels after ingestion; low-GI foods are foods with a lesser glycemic effect meaning that they don’t raise blood sugar levels as high following consumption; high-GI foods are those with a greater glycemic effect (1). Foods with a high GI are those whose sugar is rapidly digested and absorbed resulting in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Because low-GI foods produce more gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels they are perceived to be healthier for routine consumption. (2,3)

One issue that arose with the GI originally was that it did not account for proper portions. As a result, researchers refined the GI to develop the Glycemic Load which is a ranking system for carbohydrate content in food portions based on their glycemic index. A food's glycemic load is determined by multiplying its glycemic index by the amount of carbohydrate it contains. Glycemic load combines both the quality and quantity of carbohydrate in one ‘number’. It’s the best way to predict blood glucose values of different types and amounts of food.

There are several factors that affect how quickly sugar will enter the bloodstream:

1) the food form
2) the presence and quantity of fiber
3) the presence of added sugar or sweetener, and
4) the presence of fat.

In the case of organic fruit juice, the presence of fiber and healthy fat, as is in the acai berry, will help to reduce the glycemic index of the juice compared to a fruit that doesn’t contain either of these, such as most apple or orange juices.

Written by Ashley Koff RD, www.ashleykoffapproved.com.

Learn why Sambazon's Original Juice is low glycemic here.

References:
1. DeBruyne, L. K., Pinna, K., Whitney, E. (2008). Nutrition and Diet Therapy: Principles and Practice (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
2. Brown, Judith E. Nutrition Through the Life Cycle. Third Edition. New York: Thomson 2008.
3. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates-and-the-glycemic-load/.