Cacao Nibs - 1 lb

They're heavenly: crunchy, chocolaty, and decadent. They also are a Peruvian grown cacao, which is why they have the Prop warning (cadmium), so take it easy on them, and consider rotating with varieties grown elsewhere.

These really are my favorite nibs. I roast them a bit, then top a bowl of fruit with them. There are few hulls and almost no bits that taste moldy, as with other brands. Near the bottom of the bag, the bit that settles always seems to be the least appetizing, so that couple of teaspoons goes into smoothies. But the rest are decent pieces with a rich, roasty flavor that hits my chocolate spot. My go-to brand. I buy a large bag and store what I don't toast up in the freezer so they last a long time.

As mentioned in the title, I am going to use these for a homemade chocolate liqueur that I do every year for sharing during my Christmas party. This is the first time that I have bought this brand and honestly normally just pick up whatever I can find, when I can find them, at my local grocery store. This year the grocery store didn't have them in stock so I headed here to see what was available and decided to pull the trigger on these since they had a lot of positive reviews. These are DELICIOUS, sweeter than expected despite being unsweetened and much better than the other brand nibs I have gotten in the past. I am used to having to pick out debris from some of the other brands but there is none in this product. They're also very fresh tasting - and don't have any bad smells indicating they have sat around a long time and all the nibs I have eaten (a couple small handfuls from the bag) easily chewable. Very happy with the price and quality and will probably be making this my go to brand.

This has great chocolate flavor if you’re using it for a drink. The only negative is that the pieces are very large. You’ll have to use your coffee grinder to turn it into a fine ground before you use it as a hot drink. Compared to other promoted chocolate drinks, this is very good value for your money. Will buy again!

Delicious to use as a topping for something like a cake. The nibs give the frosting a bit of texture (crunch) and interesting appearance. The cocoa is exactly the strength that I'd expect (the correct cocoa content); the nibs are the right size. We didn't purchase the nibs for health benefits. But we do enjoy putting them on food other than cake (like in granola).

I love the crunch and it's not too sweet

Dangerous product- watch your teeth. I don't usually leave reviews but I thought it was important in this case. I should start by saying that I LOVE Cacao nibs, and Viva's are tasty. Cacao nibs are delicious, and an excellent source of fiber. I add them to yogurt, ice cream, and soup, and I even snack on them plain when I'm in the mood for something chocolatey and crunchy but don't want the calories of chocolate bar. I thought these Viva Cacao Nibs were of excellent quality, until I kept biting down on what felt like rocks or sand. These pieces were so hard that I was afraid I might've chipped my molars, and even The smaller hard pieces made eating the cacao nibs really unpleasant. I estimate that every 5-10 bites or so, you get one of these stone-like bites and it's really distressing and dangerous. Upon further investigation, I realized that these "stones" in Viva Cacao Nibs are actually tiny cacao nut stems and/or pieces of cacao nut shell. As it turns out, this company just does not do a careful job of de-stemming and de-shelling, so lots of shell pieces and stems are allowed into the final product. These are the superhard bits that you crack down on if you're not extremely careful. Last night I spent about a half hour manually checking and de-stemming the remaining half of the bag so I can eat the rest with confidence . I'd be willing to pay literally twice the price, or more, to get a product that's more carefully produced, because it's not acceptable to include such a high concentration of dangerous items in the mix. Viva needs to get its act together. UPDATE: After posting this review, I received a flurry of emails from Viva’s customer service team asking me to try another bag. The emails continued over a number of months. I wasn’t sure why they were so concerned with “making things right,” but I thought it was nice, so I gave them my address to send me a new bag, which they claimed would “make things right” ans show me that the “stone”-rich bag I had received was just a fluke. Finally I tried the new bag, and let me tell you: it was the SAME as, or WORSE than, the first one: CHOCK FULL ‘O “STONES” (aka rock-hard cacao stems and shells). Every third or fourth bite contained a tooth-breaking “prize.” Then I looked at my review and was surprised to see the number of “Helpful” ratings it has amassed. I realized that Viva’s desperation to contact me had nothing to do with “making things right,” because they hadn’t changed anything about the product. They just wanted to buy me off with a free bag of “rock”-nibs so that i’d change my negative review and so they could sell MORE bags of their “rock” nibs. Someone is going to be injured consuming this product (that is, if it hasn’t already happened- which I’m sure it may have). I genuinely hope that someone reports this product to the health department and that Viba is banned from continuing to sell it. If they correct the problem, I’m glad to take down this review. But until then, I’ll keep it up. Be ware of Viva Cacao Nibs!

The flavor and aroma and texture are far more consistent than a reasonably well-regarded competitor, indicating more quality control for bean sourcing and roasting. I've noticed little or no bits of shell so far, a definite improvement on an alternative that does have occasional un-chewable bits. I only leave the possibility that there may be some, because as with anything that MIGHT have shell or pits, a bit of caution is appropriate. Some may find the flavor a bit bland compared to other brands. But the flavor there is, is pleasant, and neither excessively bitter nor off. And the aroma when first opened is noticeable compared to the competition. For anything one wants to add the texture and flavor of cacao nibs to, or even just chewing a small handful at a time, these may well be the best.

Taste dry and with little flavour compared to other brands I buy

These nibs are fresh and crunchy. Have used them on top of a homemade vanilla and chocolate frosting made with cream cheese, butter and confectionery sugar. Have also sprinkled on plain yogurt and on peanut butter toast.

I use cocao nibs for overnight oats, smoothies, etc. and these are great.

I like that these are real cocoa nibs instead of a ground powder that you don't know what is actually in it, just like ground coffee it is better to buy whole bean.

An acquired taste for health ! Bitter foods are good for our bellies, and help deal with sugar cravings… Cacao is a great super food check on line for benefit info!