Meraki Cacao

06/09/2025

To make our delicious spread, we firstly gently roast our hazelnuts until the natural oils are released and then process them to make a hazelnut butter. This is put into our stone grinder with our special sweetner, Palmyra Blossom Nectar and raw cacao powder. We then grind it for a few hours to make a very smooth paste and to allow the wonderful flavours to amalgamate with each other.

Our spread is named Edesia after the Roman goddess of gourmet food. Edesia connects our product back to Italy where it all started and also embodies the essence of our gourmet product.

With its deep taste of roasted hazelnuts, the rich flavour of cacao and the wonderful sweetness of Palmyra Blossom Nectar you can enjoy it on many foods. We like it on buckwheat pancakes, coconut yoghurt, fruit, sourdough toast or just straight out of the jar!

We'd love to know your favourite ways to use Edesia for breakfast, snacks or dessert. Please tag us so we can share!

05/09/2025

Looking forward to being back at Morpeth Markets Farmers' Market tomorrow!

Due to the increasing costs of ingredients we have had to increase our prices accordingly.

Please see our website www.merakicacao.com/shop

Happy Friday 🕺👋

Our September Farmers Market is TOMORROW, Saturday 6th Sept✨

9am - 3pm, Morpeth Market Place 📍

Here is the line up 👇

Casa Mia🍓
Karen Griffiths Glass 🎨
Wooly Eric 🧶
Jewel Gem Jewellery💍
The Greek Bakery 🇬🇷
Northumbrian Ironworks🌹
Pushpa Singh 🥘
Moorehouse Farm Shop 🐽
Murphy’s Kitchen 🥧
Ridleys Fish & Game🐟
Geordie Bangers 🌭
Meraki Cacao 🍫
The Brownie Bar 🍪
Earth & Fire Bakery🍞
The Honey Store 🐝
Bake for the Soul 🍰
Angel Skin Products 👼
Northern Ark Nursery 🍃
Kittys Ginger Wine 🍷

Barista Beast will also be in his usual spot under the tree 🌳 ☕️

SEE YA TOMORROW👋

04/09/2025

Did you know that the Italians have been combining hazelnuts and cacao since Napoleon times? When Napolean imposed restrictions on trading goods with Britain, cocoa supplies became scarce. Hazelnuts grew in abundance particularly in Piedmont, so hazelnut paste was combined with chocolate to make it go further. A chocolatier in Piedmont, Turin named the hazelnut chocolate bars, Gianduja, after a carnival character that represented the locals from this region.

The original Gianduja contained over 70% hazelnuts and 19.5% cocoa and was shaped into a solid loaf for slicing. After World War II, cacao was again scarce across Europe, so a baker from a small town called Alba added cacao butter to make it go further and more spreadable. Then in the 1960’s the baker’s son added cheaper ingredients including Palm oil and milk powder. That became the well known global hazelnut and chocolate spread.

Today there is very little hazelnuts (13%) or cocoa in that brand compared to the original recipe. Over 50% of the ingredients are palm oil and sugar. Skimmed milk solids, vanilla and lethicins are also added.

At Meraki Cacao we pride ourselves on the only using ingredients that are good for you. We wanted to create a hazelnut cacao spread that honoured the original invention. We are very proud to introduce our new product, containing only three ingredients - roasted hazelnuts, Palmyra Blossom Nectar and raw cacao powder.

Come and try it at our markets and events (see our FB page for details) or you can buy it directly online

www.merakicacao.com

02/09/2025

Introducing our new product!!

Very excited to let you all know that we have a new product to add to our range of cacao bars......

Edesia - Roasted Hazelnut & Cacao Spread

Only three single ingredients - roasted hazelnuts, Palmyra Blossom Nectar & raw cacao powder. All stone ground together to create something gourmet and delicious, you won't believe it's good for you!

We will explain the inspiration behind the name and its creation in our next posts. We are very proud to announce that Edesia has reached the finals of this year's Nourish Awards too. We will find out where we have come at the end of September so keep your fingers crossed...

As with all our products, they are all hand made in small batches. All our ingredients are sourced with sustainability and the environment in mind.

If you would like to try some, you can buy online and at our markets and events

www.merakicacao.com/shop

Let us know what you think - we would love to know

16/08/2025

It’s our first time at Troody Scrumptious Markets in Stannington tomorrow! Please pop along and see us all 🙂

06/08/2025

Looking forward to being back at Hexham Farmers' Market on Saturday! See you there

01/08/2025

Back at our local Morpeth Markets Farmers’ market tomorrow! See you there 😊

Happy Friday 🕺👋

Start of the new month and we have our August Farmers Market TOMORROW, Saturday 2nd Aug ✨

9am - 3pm, Morpeth Market Place 📍

Here is the line up 👇

Casa Mia 🍓
Karen Griffiths Glass 🎨
Wooly Eric 🧶
Jewel Gem Jewellery 💍
The Greek Bakery 🇬🇷
Northumbrian Ironwork🌹
Pushpa Singh 🥘
Moorehouse Farm 🐽
Murphy’s Kitchen 🥧
Ridleys Fish & Game 🐟
Geordie Bangers 🌭
Meraki Cacao 🍫
The Brownie Bar 🍪
Earth & Fire Bakery 🍞
The Honey Store 🐝
Bake for the Soul 🍰
Kenton Duffield 🎨

Barista_Beast will also be in his usual spot under the tree 🌳 ☕️

SEE YA TOMORROW👋

04/07/2025

See you all tomorrow 😊

09/05/2025

See you all at Hexham Farmers' Market tomorrow ☺️

We've got our plan ready for tomorrow: 19 producers from across the North of England bringing you bread and cheese, beer and honey wine, meat and veg and lots more. Come and see us any time between 9am and 1.30pm.

26/04/2025

See you there!

It’s almost time for this months Kelso Farmers’ Market…..🥳🤩
Tomorrow we are absolutely delighted to be welcoming the following regular stall holders back on-site for our forth 🎉 monthly market of 2025:

Arcadian Chocolates
The Bread Maker
Burnside Farm Foods
Caurnie Soaperie
The Chirnells Farmhouse Kitchen
The Cookie Kitchen
The Dessert Diva
Fingerpost Produce
The First & Last Brewery, Northumberland
Flouer Flowers
Going Native
Greenknowe Honey
Hardiesmill Grass-Fed Beef
Jack & Jills Jam
Kitty's Homemade Ginger Wine
Lochview Blossoms
Meraki Cacao
Natural Little Bee
Peelham Farm
Penningtons Spirits & Liqueurs
Rola Mòr
Ross Dougal Fish Merchants
ThimbleTweed

Plus for the first time we will also be welcoming:

Philiphaugh Gardens and Nursery

The market is open between 9.30am & 1.30pm in the Square, Kelso.

Last but definitely not least, please don’t forget there are lots of fabulous shops, cafes, restaurants & businesses (many of which are local, small, independent businesses) within the town that are ALL OPEN for you to come along and have a truly brilliant day out - for all tastes! 🎉👍🏼 plus the The Good Market Kelso will be on in Cross Keys Hotel Kelso at the same time as we are open so, why not shop local in 2025

Please See Visit Kelso & Kelso Shopping For more details on what’s happening in and around Kelso.

21/04/2025

Working hard in the garden today after a busy few days at Easter markets. We often get asked if we eat our cacao bars..… Absolutely we do! Turkish Nights is our flavour of today 😍 we love it!

Enjoy your weekend everyone and our products if you’ve got some. ☺️