For those new to this website:
Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead-poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Items are tested multiple times to confirm the test results for each component tested. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).
For the holidays, today I am going to share my first recipe with you (more will come!). This one is for hot cocoa! We’ll call it “Lead-Safe Hot Cocoa” for fun because the choices I have made specifically keep any potential Lead contamination to a minimum (cocoa/chocolate being generally one of the more commonly Lead-tainted food items)!
If you are new to my site and need an intro (for context) check out this post here.
I’ll start with a photo and shopping list (with details at the bottom)!
Some of the links on this page may be affiliate links where a purchase made
after clicking will support this website without costing you extra!
Shopping List/ All Things I Use
- Organic Vanilla Extract (I use “Singing Dog” — Sugar-Free and Gluten-Free)
- Organic Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I use Holy Kakow!)
- Organic Honey (I’ve been using Trader Joe’s)
- Organic Milk (or organic WestSoy unsweetened soy milk — cheaper at Trader Joe’s!)
- Organic Ground Cinnamon (from Simply Organic)
- Natural Vegan Dandies Marshmallows
- Stainless Stovetop Safe Cooking Measuring Pitcher (Norpro — 8 cup)
- Stainless Measuring Cups (mine are Amco and I have had them for nearly 15 years)
- Wooden Spoon
- Lead-free plates for setting things on (instead of my Leaded-tile counter!)
- Lead-Free Clear Glass Mugs
- Stainless Spoons & Stainless (or glass!) Straws for the kids
- Ball jars for storing dry goods (once the bag of cocoa is open)! We store all of our dry goods in vacuum-sealed jars.
In terms of Lead-free or Lead-safe, the most important thing is the cocoa. If you have seen my film, you know that chocolate is one of the food items with the highest Lead levels.
In the creation of chocolate products, Lead has the potential to be added at every step in the manufacturing process.
It is for this reason I look for the following qualities in cocoa products (to help ensure the lowest Lead content):
- responsibly sourced (ideally single-source cocoa beans)
- locally (U.S) made (smaller companies have more pride of ownership and accountability)
- locally (and minimally) processed
- single-ingredient cocoa products (cocoa nibs or cocoa powder)
If you:
1. are the one to add the dairy products (or non-dairy substitutes), the sugar (or alternative sweetener), the vanilla, the salt, and other ingredients that a cocoa manufacturer might otherwise add, then you have control over these items’ sources — and there is less “machine-ing” of the final product. Industrial processing equipment plays a large role in the contamination of foods: Lead often contaminates processed ingredients due to the wear and tear of Leaded-brass machine components (used for their inherent “self-lubricating” quality — a quality needed for machines with lots of moving parts) during manufacturing, so if you limit the products that have been machine-processed (or machine-combined with other ingredients) by
2. using Lead-free cookware, you automatically reduce the potential amount of Lead in your finished product.
Cocoa products processed here in the USA are also less likely to have Lead contamination from the manufacturing process as machines here are in most cases newer and therefore less likely to have Leaded components when compared to older (and even many newer) equivalent machines in Central or South America — or China or Africa for that matter. (There are other low-Lead or Lead-free choices in my ingredients list, but the article would be too long if I were to go into it all in full detail. Lol!)
How I make my cocoa… well… I don’t bother measuring things too much, actually (I’m a “seat-of-the-pants” baker) so bring an improvisatory attitude and make adjustments to taste!
- Fill the pitcher about 2/3 or 3/4 full with milk (or soymilk, nut, or grain milk of your choice) & start warming on LOW flame.
- Warm about 1/4 cup of honey (more or less to taste), add to milk, and stir slowly.
- Add in about 3/8 of a cup of cocoa (first a full 1/4 cup and mix in and then half of that again if you want it darker).
- Shake in a little salt (maybe a 1/4 teaspoon or less — to taste).
- Add a few shakes of ground organic cinnamon.
- Add a splash of vanilla (towards the end of cooking so it doesn’t fully evaporate)… I tend to make my splashes generous — so maybe a teaspoon? Maybe two?
- Stir periodically — and then once it starts getting hot, stir constantly with your spatula (or a stainless whisk if you prefer)
- Remove from heat BEFORE it starts to boil or burn (very important — lol) and wait a few minutes before pouring it into your Lead-free glass coffee mugs!
- Add a couple of vegan marshmallows, and serve! 😉
- NOTE: My tile kitchen’s tiled counters have tested positive for Lead (and we lack the funds to remodel!) so I always set all my ingredients out on a cutting board and then use a Lead-free plate next to the stove to set my mixing spoon and measuring cups on while cooking.
I always serve the cocoa at the beginning of a meal (while I am cooking other things) — so the kids are not “starving”/ crazy while I am cooking… I know that’s “backward,” but we do a lot of things backward around here!
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Please also let me know if you want to see more of this type of piece!
Thanks for reading and enjoy!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Mother of Lead-poisoned kids
Celestial says
Would love to see a post with all the things that would have made this one too long!!! 🙂
Mandy says
Do you have info on silicone straws being lead or free from other stuff that is bad for littles? I have 4 littles 5 and under so glass straws seem a little dangerous from the breaking prospective and stainless steel has me worried about cut lips or broken teeth.
Doug says
Mama,
You’ve validated lead paint on beer bottles. What about the painted bottle caps themselves? If there is lead in the paint, they may be more dangerous than the bottles, as prying off a bottle cap often results in creases and broken paint flakes. Ingesting one of those flakes, if it is leaded, could be with a years worth of avoiding water with a few ppb of lead.
Tamara says
hi Doug,
Thanks for commenting. I have not found modern (currently sold) bottle caps to have toxicants like Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and Arsenic.
Tamara
Sarah says
Have you tested the Holy Kakow brand?
I read a report from ConsumerLabs.com that tested several brands of cocoa powers and found they were all contaminated with lead and other heavy metals. 🙁
I’ve been using the Navitas brand cocoa powders for a long time and it has lead and mercury in it!
Just wondering if you know for sure that the Holy Kakow brand is safe.
Thanks!
Katherine says
I’m searching my brain here but I thought you had posted a local chocolate source not on amazon and I was wanting to try that but now the link is to something else…maybe it was a different blog post. In the grand scheme of things, its of little importance but my chocolate addiction is strong and I was hoping to try adding so cocoa powder back (chocolate free for 3 months now) for myself instead of eating so much sugar…which is where I am now.
Rachel says
It’s unclear to me how you decided to list Holy Kakow as safe. Please elaborate?
Tamara says
It’s in the post… will find the sentence. It’s a #SaferChoice, because it is locally processed and single sourced and processed in the USA.
Lily says
Hello,
I was reading about safe hot chocolate and was wondering if there was a brand out there that was safe without having to make it from scratch?
Amber Skinner says
I thought the kitchen aid spatulas tested high in lead and cadmium? But you recommended them here?
Tamara says
AHA! I need to update this post. It was written in 2016!
amber Skinner says
You have a lot on your plate mama, thank you for all you do
Marilyn Richardsone says
Have you recently tested Holy Kakow cacao lately. your test was made in 2016 and today is August 26, 2023. What is the % of lead and cadmium? is it safe for children? Thank you for your website. Truly appreciate your goals. Marilyn Richardson
Audi says
Hello Tamara!
Thanks for the recipe. Only the cocoa powder is unavailable, could you recommend others brands please?
Terry says
How do you manage to vacuum seal Ball jars? I’d love to be able to do this!
Kayla says
Is chocolate okay to heat on the stove in the stainless measuring pot you listed here? I know you’ve mentioned in other articles and posts that water should only be used in stainless and other liquids be in glass. On your shopleadfree webpage I notice a glass version of this measuring pot that can be heated on the stove. Would this be a safer option? I may be confused from reading so many different articles and purchasing from different sections recently so apologize if this has been addressed already or if my question is off base. Appreciate all you do!!
Lily says
I was wondering if this article and affiliated links could be updated? With current testing results on chocolate, is the brand listed safe?
Thanks!
Melissa says
Also curious if I should be concerned about pots with markings inside. Is it typically ok? Thank you for all you do!