Recently I realized that I just couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up feeling completely rested.
Chalk it up to my genetic disorder, or working from home, or making everything from scratch, or raising and homeschooling my five young children…
My lack of energy could have been caused by a number of things; all I know is that I wanted to feel better.
Enter: Maca
Maca is a plant that grows in the Peruvian Andes. It is known and used for its root, which improves mood, balances hormones, increases energy, and acts as an adaptogen.
I’d heard of it before and even talked about it with a friend, so when I found a bag of raw organic maca on sale at my local co-op, I decided to give it a try. You can learn more about maca here, here, or by listening to Wardee’s podcast!
I experimented with it by putting it in all my drinks, as long as they weren’t too hot, since I didn’t want to destroy any of its raw properties. It adds a very enjoyable, almost nutty taste to beverages.
The Results
My energy now?
Extended instead of sporadic!
I can handle much more household crises (shoes all over the floor, the dog eating cat food because she hasn’t been fed, our adopted stray kitty making a bed on my clean dress laid out for church) before blowing a gasket. 😉
This is my moment of quiet — when ice is forming on the bare branches outside our window, when the fire is soaring, the little ones are napping, my big ones are busy with school, and my hubby is working in the office. I treat myself, and often my husband, to a black and white maca mocha. I hope you enjoy it too.
Here is one of the hot drinks that get my day going with maca!
Looking For Maca?
You’ll want to seek out high-quality organic maca that’s as fresh as possible, and packaged to preserve nutritional quality.
At Traditional Cooking School, we’ve investigated maca sources, and we’re really excited about The Maca Team‘s maca because it’s “beyond organic”. Their Peruvian farms (with farmers paid fair wages) follow traditional agricultural methods such as giving the land rest and using natural fertilization methods. This is good for the land and great for the food that’s grown on it.
Also, their maca is fresh! They process and sell small batches from only the current year’s harvest, so you receive it with a few months of it being harvested. (As opposed to larger producers who move it in huge shipping containers, where your maca could be sitting around for 2 years before you actually get it to eat it.)
Finally, their raw maca isn’t heated above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, therefore preserving the enzymes and nutrients. (They have a pre-cooked gelatinized maca for those with a sensitive stomach.) Then it’s packaged in foil-lined double-sealed opaque bags or sealed amber jars to ensure that the maca’s potency isn’t reduced by light, humidity, or oxygen.
The Maca Team‘s maca is simply premium quality, and we can tell by how much better we feel when using this maca than other brands.
Read more about The Maca Team’s maca here. Or, go here to start shopping now.
Black and White Maca Mocha
This is my moment of quiet — when ice is forming on the bare branches outside our window, when the fire is soaring, the little ones are napping, my big ones are busy with school, and my hubby is working in the office. I treat myself, and often my husband, to a black and white maca mocha. I hope you enjoy it too.
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 tablespoons cocoa butter
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons raw honey
- 1 teaspoon maca powder raw
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 cup coffee or herbal coffee*
- 1 cup raw whole milk or dairy-free
Instructions
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Brew 1 cup of strong coffee. (We use a French press and love it!)
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Combine milk and coffee in a saucepan and warm until steaming but not boiling.
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Add cocoa butter, cocoa powder, honey, maca, and coconut oil to a wide-mouth quart-sized jar.
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Add warmed coffee and milk mixture to jar.
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Blend with an immersion blender for 10 to 15 seconds, or whisk briskly for 30 seconds.
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Pour flavored coffee into mugs and add fresh raw cream or more honey if you would like.
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Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Make your own herbal coffee!
- Maca has found a permanent place in my health routine for now. I feel so much better when I consume it at least three to four times a week.
- No, it is not the cure-all -- prayer, sleep, and devoting each day unto the Lord go a long way, too.
How do you incorporate maca into your food or drinks? Do you have any favorite maca recipes to share?
P.S. This Maca Mocha contains coffee, but you can make this recipe without caffeine by substituting herbal coffee!
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This post was featured in 30 Maca Recipes {so you can get your superfood on!}, 15 Natural Energy Boosting Drinks — No Caffeine Allowed! and 33 Warming & Nourishing Fall Sippers.
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Imagine replacing the coffee with Chaga tea and the milk with nut milk like cashew or hazel nut. I haven’t tried yet but my mouth is drooling… Mmmm
That does sound good. : )))) I will need to look into Chaga tea.
I’m interested in buying local foods, but then I see things like Italian or Californian olive oils, avocados, almonds, coconut oils, coffee and maca powder and things that I just can’t get within 100 miles. Do you think there could be a local alternative to all our foreign loves? Or is there a way to make it more sustainable that we are buying things from across the globe?
You are speaking my language. I completely understand what you are talking about. Finding local foods is very difficult. And even when you source locally produced goods, which can be very expensive, generally they are made with outsources products. Spring and summer, we make do with our own food from the garden and meat, minus imports like oils, grains, and supplements etc… However, the winter is more trying and sourcing local is daunting. Maybe we just need to think different about what we really need and want. Paw Paws grow in TN and are like bananas I hear, so could we substitute those for bananas? What grows well where you live? Maybe our diets need to be more regional instead of national? Great thoughts, again! Blessings!
I think many of the imported foods – like tea, coffee, maca, coconut, avocados, spices, cocoa, olives – are just about impossible to duplicate, and so I purchase them, even though I aim to eat locavore and live a low carbon footprint as much as possible. Other things can be substituted for – rhubarb can be juiced (and canned for off season use) as a substitute for lemons – very tart! As Tracy points out, pawpaws grow here, and have a tropical taste, so I froze a bunch last year and have plenty for smoothies, etc. and I don’t need to buy bananas. Herbs can substitute for imported tea to some degree, but I love my black (and green and yellow and white and puer and oolong and all of the rest) teas. I try to support small farms and buy as directly and consciously as possible (Verdant Teas is where I buy most of my specialty teas). I buy in bulk when possible to cut down on shipping since I have lots of cool dark storage space and a FoodSaver. I grow what I can, and can what I grow, so I don’t have to buy tomatoes from Italy. Nothing wildly unusual . . . it’s a bit more time consuming to do it all myself when things are in season, but a real time saver when it comes to dinner time and I have a full pantry with everything I need at hand – almost no grocery shopping anymore! ;-D
Made a cup this afternoon & it’s delicious! I have tried stirring Maca into water and drinking but it’s tough, not tasty. This Maca mocha is much more enjoyable. Thanks for the recipe!
When I clicked the link for cocoa butter and was directed to Amazon there were several options for cocoa butter. Is there a particular brand you would recommend? I would like to purchase the brand you specifically use and recommend.
I don’t know if it is the best option, but I have been very happy with the fair-trade organic virgin cold pressed cocao butter from the Raw Chocolate Company which I recently purchased when I was away from home for two weeks. A bit over a year ago, I bought Saaqin raw organic cocoa butter through Amazon. It’s been in cool storage in my basement since then (I had been using it primarily for moisturizing up to very recently). I compared the taste of it just now and it has lost most of it’s fragrance and taste. It isn’t rancid, and perhaps it was much better when I first purchased it – I remember a very nice aroma in the cocoa butter moisturizer and lip balm I made last year – but the more recently purchased Raw Chocolate Co. cacao butter is a much nicer treat. 🙂
That sounds amazing! I like the addition of cocoa butter, I’ve been doing that for a couple months now. This might just be what I need to invest in maca.
Mmmm just made this, it is delicious!! Thank you!
Is it as tasty with just coconut oil and not the cocoa butter?
Weekday about the thyroid? Since this is a cruciferous veggie… Just curious!
The Maca Team website includes an article that addresses your question about maca and thyroid issues.
Can you be more specific about which Maca powder you use in this recipe? When I go to the website, there are different colors, gelatinized powder or just plain powder.
Your recipe says “cocoa butter.” Did you mean “cacao butter.” I can’t seem to find the cocoa butter listed. 🙂