Cacao Nibs

Let me tell you about Cacao Nibs, and why they are not just "chocolate chips in disguise."

A nib is a broken piece of the roasted cacao bean, nothing more. No sugar added, no milk, no molding. Pick one up and bite it: it snaps, dry and sharp, almost like a coffee bean. Chocolate melts on your tongue because it was built to; a nib gives you that snap and then a bitter, grainy crunch, over and over, bite after bite. Remember that sound, and you will never mistake one for the other on the plate.

Choose Cacao Nibs by smell first. They should smell like roasted cocoa, deep and slightly bitter, not dusty or flat. Look for pieces that are roughly even in size and pour freely from the bag, no clumping, no sticking together.

Some people say you can swap Cacao Nibs for chocolate chips in a cookie recipe, gram for gram. No! Chips carry sugar that nibs don't have — nibs bring their own richness, but none of that sweetness, none of that melt. Swap them blindly and your cookies come out crunchier than you expect, bitter in spots, and short of sweetness. Use nibs for crunch and depth, chocolate for melt and sweetness. Two different tools, not one.