Raw Passion: Not Your Sugar Mama's Chocolates

By: Emma Bleiler, February 13, 2012

EMMA BLEILER - Aphrodite's Love Potion is just one of the secret ingredients in NYSM's Be Sexy chocolate bar.

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For just under a year, Bennett Coffey and Kyleen Keenan of Not Your Sugar Mamas have been spreading raw chocolatey goodness from Martha’s Vineyard to health food stores and fine food shops around the country.

Wait, raw chocolate?

To sum it up, raw chocolate is made from unprocessed cacao beans. Since it’s not heated or mixed with any other ingredients, none of its nutrients are lost in the heating process that dark and milk chocolates have to put up with.

While studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York, Coffey learned about the powerful health benefits of raw food.

Comparing the various antioxidants found in raw foods, she noticed raw chocolate had the most. As for eating and cooking with this super food, she can only describe the experience as magical.

Thus began Coffey’s quest to provide something healthy for the world. Paired with Keenan’s passion for healthy living and chocolate—along with a degree in business—the two soon became a sweet match, bonded by their belief in Tupac's lyric:

Let's change the way we eat/ Let's change the way we act/ Let's change the way we treat each other

Guiltless pleasure

“If I’m going to put something healthy out there, why not chocolate?” Coffey said one afternoon while sharing a bar in her West Tisbury kitchen.

Living up to its name, Not Your Sugar Mama’s products are totally free of refined sugars, gluten, dairy, wheat, soy, and preservatives.

In addition, all NYSM’s chocolates are chock full of super food ingredients. To name a few, there is maca, a root vegetable from Peru known to help stabilize many of the body’s systems; Aphrodite’s Love Potion (used in the Be Sexy bar), an elixir notorious for aiding the libido; agave, a healthy low-glycemic sweetener; and spirulina, a super nutrient-dense food, serving up all eight essential amino acids.

Not to mention the sweetest ingredient of them all, these hand-made treats are all made with love!

All of NYSM’s products are made with certified organic and fair trade ingredients, sourced as locally as possible. Aphrodite’s Love Potion, found in the Be Sexy Bar, is purchased from Skye Botanicals, a cosmetic company on Martha’s Vineyard that only uses natural ingredients.

Small bites, big taste

Being more of a vanilla person than chocolate, I was surprised at the stream of delight that followed my first taste of handcrafted goodness.

I was instantly gratified after just one nibble. Unlike other chocolates, where I need about five to achieve my craving, one was just enough.

Thanks to a supportive community on Martha’s Vineyard and knowing people in the right places, NYSM has been able to get their chocolate bars onto the mainland. Be Original, Be Cool, Be Sexy, and the seasonal offer, Be Jolly, are on sale in fine food and health food stores and cafes in Boston, Western Mass, New York City, and Connecticut. Orders can also be placed online!

Closer to home, NYSM chocolates are available at Amber Waves of Falmouth and Quick’s Hole in Woods Hole (open seasonally). Be on the look out for their chocolates and chocolate mix at Windfall Market, coming soon!