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| The lovely Ms Knickbocker herself, Sylvia. |
Firstly I’d like to talk about one of my current
favourite go to drinks, Ms Knickerbocker’s Super Duper Drinking Cacao. I find
drinking this works perfectly in assisting me get over my afternoon slump time
(3.00pm), it picks me up nicely & gives me my chocy fix, so what’s not to
love.
I’ve also taken to incorporating the original super duper
into my smoothies, I add it in as a base then throw in some berries & superfoods. See
the below recipe which is super duper yummy!
I’ve always had a weakness for chocolate but I
recently switched my chocolate fix over to cacao. I’ve learnt that one can
still enjoy the chocolaty taste, with the superfood benefit, bonus!
I decided to get in touch with the owner/founder of Ms Knickerbocker, Sylvia. Sylvia was kind enough
to allow me to interview her about Ms Knickerbocker’s Super Duper Drinking
Cacao, see interview after smoothie recipe.
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2 tsp Ms
Knickerbocker’s original Super Duper Drinking Cacao.
(less or more of
the cacao depending on how chocolatey you like it)
1 cup of Soy or
nut milk
½ cup of frozen
berries
1 small banana
Tblsp goji berries
½ cup of ice
Sylvia also recommends sprinkling the Chai flavoured Super Duper Drinking Cacao over your morning muesli for a delicious uplifting start to your morning
And for all you folk all over in the Northen Hemisphere, fall is on its way so try the Chai Super Duper Drinking Cacao.
I
found drinking Chai Super Duper Drinking Cacao an absolute godsend
throughout the winter, as the added chai spices have such a wonderful way of
warming you from the inside out.
Eating well
and staying healthy has always interested and motivated me. Last year when I
was in New York City with my family there were so many amazing places to eat
and great products on sale, that were exactly what I love; vegetarian, vegan,
wholefoods, raw food and cane sugar free. It was great. I could go out, on
holidays and explore this really great "food world", that was outside
of my own kitchen. I made me feel that Australia could do better. And there
must be more people like me living right here, in Australia. People that could
make this stuff at home but sometimes they might just want someone else to make
it for them. This is where I come in. I want to make and sell food that I love
to eat, that isn't sold locally at the moment. Being in New York really
motivated me to get "out there" and start providing some of this
stuff to the Australian market, starting with "Ms Knickerbocker; Food in
the raw" - yummy food to love, that loves you back. I thought: "if it
can happen here (ie. New York), it can happen anywhere!"
Raw food is
not the only way that I eat. I have a science background and the idea behind
eating more foods raw really resonates with me and make scientific sense to me.
Eating "raw" isn't just about munching on a celery stick, its eating
foods that have only been, at most, exposed to low levels of heat. Heat that
hasn't destroyed the natural enzymes in those foods. Our body's enzymes help us
digest the food we eat and the enzymes found in food also help break that food
down. So double the food digesting enzymes, means better food digesting and
more nutrients going into our bodies! Brilliant, no.?
How can customers benefit by adding
super foods like raw cacao into their lives?
At the
moment my main food focus is maximising nutrient intake from the ordinary
portions of food that I eat. You may have heard that people can be malnourished
of certain nutrients even if they are a normal weight. So, quality over
quantity is key. Adding super foods like raw cacao to your regular diets gives
you large hits of a wide variety of nutrients; vitamins, minerals and enzymes
to keep your body stay feeling great and functioning as well as it can.
As I notice
some of the effects of aging creeping in, I've become more aware of the
importance of eating antioxidants to slow down this process of aging (body and
brain). One of the best things about raw cacao is that it has one of the
highest level of antioxidants of all food. Higher than gogi berries or green
tea and much higher than roasted cocoa (that most chocolate contains). So the
benefits of super foods aren't only immediate, they also work for long term
gains.
Another
benefit of a little cacao each day is that it contains natural chemicals that
are like the endorphins that your body produces after a workout. Bliss without
the workout! This is why chocolate is said to make you feel good.
Tell us about some alternative ways
we can incorporate Ms Knickerbocker Super Duper drinking cacao into our diets,
other than drinking it?
I love
this, even if I can't help but feel a little less than virtuous when I do
this but I love sprinkling a teaspoon the Super Duper original drinking cacao
over my raw muesli in the morning. I'm trying to get over this guilt though,
telling myself it is one of the best things I could be adding to my muesli -
packed with micronutrients, enzymes, loads of antioxidants and low GI
sweetener. Anyhow, adding Super Duper original drinking cacao to my raw muesli
and favourite milk transforms my breakfast into something that is "just
like a chocolate milkshake but only" still really good for me.
Do you
think consumers are becoming more aware of what they put into their bodies; it
seems people are wanting to revert back to simple clean food.
It would be great if more people were getting into
fresh and healthy foods but its hard for me to say if people are doing it more,
as I've always been interested in the latest research into anything to do with
health and well being. And this way of eating is something that I grew up
with. I am, however, noticing the media reports of certain sections of the
population, that do consume a diet of limited calories, fresh plant foods
and cold pressed oils, avoiding a plethora of lifestyle related diseases and cancers
that are on the rise in modern Western countries. These reports also link a
longer life span to these lifestyle choices.
The media
has also been doing a great job of promoting the positive effects of eating
fresh foods, such as longer life and the negative effects of higher calorie,
processed foods, relating these to health and obesity problems. And I think
that this is hard to ignore; even by children, who are also being taught to eat
fresh fruit as a snack from an early age at school.
A gradual
move toward fresh, simple and clean food would be a great thing.
Does Ms
Knickerbocker also have a consciousness that supports sustainable living in
general?
Yes! Ms
Knickerbocker has everybody's best interest at heart. We are a company that
makes our products using the least resource intensive processes and we ensure
that our packaging and distribution has the lowest environmental impact
possible. Our aim is to sell our goods in packaging
that can even be thrown onto ones compost pile to biodegrade naturally. Where
this is not totally possible we ensure that the packaging or parts of the
packaging are readily recyclable everywhere, ie. no composite
paper/plastic/foil packaging but lots of recycled cardboard and some
biodegradable/recyclable plastics.
The fair treatment of growers of our
ingredients and sustainable farming practices is also a concern. We source
all of our raw cacao powder and coconut sugar from sources in Indonesia (Big
Tree Farms) or Peru (Association of Cacao Producers Satipo). Both of these
suppliers ensure that they do trade fairly and use sustainable farming
practices, ensuring a long lasting relationship with the land.
Ms Knickerbocker Super Duper drinking
cacao is your first product. Where do you see the future of Ms Knickerbocker?
I see Ms
Knickerbocker producing a few extra ranges of raw products. These I'll leave as
a suprise!, as I'm still working on them. But the next line that I'd like to
produce is a range of muesli, based on the super duper muesli that I make at
home for my little family. I know that all oat products are not exactly raw, as
they need to be steamed, to stop them from going rancid within a few days but
they are a pretty super food. Oats have significant benefits for the immune
system and cardiovascular health. They can help people side step diabetes
type 2 and studies have also shown that oat grains are also of benefit to
celiacs, which is pretty cool if you're on a gluten free diet. So, "stay
tuned for action", this muesli range should be in the shops within a few
weeks or so.
See Ms Knickerbocker's website for more cacao information, on that note I'm going to make myself a cup now!
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