I know nibs are not intended to be soft but please do not try to chew immediately. Very very hard, good neutral flavor but hard to blend in blender. I love them with some dates plant based cool whip and peanut butter, great little mousse.

Tasted old and chalk-like. Nasty. I would not purchase this again

I am going to assign 5 stars since I don't really have anything to compare it to, yet I didn't find any white films on the nibs as others reported, and they actually tasted better than expected

My husband loves dark chocolate, like Lindt 90% cacao. I tried it and after a tiny bite said, "Blegh!" I know that chocolate supposedly has a lot of antioxidants, etc, but it's really that AND the theobromine I was after! I didn't think I would like them a whole lot, but figured he would eat them. Turns out I eat them more than he does! I scoop out about a tablespoon, and it takes me two or three days to consume it just by nibbling! It has a ton of caffeine, so be careful! The first day I got them, I nibbled on them all day and was so wired, I ended up doing kickboxing AND walking 3 miles! And then didn't sleep until 3am! I would say, I had quite the response, so now, I try to taper the consumption as the day ends, so the caffeine doesn't keep me awake (I am pretty sensitive to caffeine!).

In the end, the flavor is kinda nutty...I just enjoy nibbling on them. They don't really melt, but I guess you could grind them up and put them in your protein shake...or your yogurt. But I like to eat them just the way I do..throughout the day. Without anything to compare it to, I am happy with them...they are less bitter than I expected, and I like that it's only the cacao...no added sugar. I can add my own coconut oil and stevia if I want...and voila!

During an episode of Brooklyn-99, Terry Crews got addicted to them, so I had to try it. I love bitter chocolate, but these are a bit of a challenge to eat, and I guess an acquired taste.
As far as quality, there are a few shells in here you have to eat around (4 stars).

These are raw, so you probably want to roast them first, it greatly improved the flavor. Just spread them out on a baking sheet, and bake at about 300F for 15-20 mins. Maybe sprinkle some powdered sugar on them too. I haven't tried sweetening these yet but it should taste better. Some things that these work for:

-Toppings on ice cream. Yum!
-Ground and mixed in when brewing coffee.
-Eat em straight if you want to force yourself to get used to them. They are surprisingly easy to eat once you get used to them. They also provide a tiny bit of alertness from the caffeine.
-Blend with smoothie. Also yum.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm not a hippie and won't use this stuff medicinally.

Please note that I bought this product in February of 2015 and that the reviews already on Amazon with a lot of negative votes are all over two years old. I am no expert on cacao nibs, but I absolutely love them and I can certainly tell bad tasting nibs from a good ones. These are most assuredly excellent-quality raw organic cacao nibs; no doubt about it. They are not roasted, as one reviewer falsely claimed; they're raw and natural. And so far as finding a small piece of shell every now and then, don't let any reviewer imply that any manufacturer can sell you nibs entirely free from tiny bits of shells. It just can't be done! Some tiny bits of shells do make their way into the bags. It just goes with the territory. The shells are the exact same color as the nibs, there is no way for either a machine or a human to detect the difference except by putting them in your mouth and trying to chew them: the nibs crunch and burst into a buttery symphony of flavors; the bits of shell, stop your teeth dead in mid chew and make you want to spit out the entire mouthful. It happens; you just have to deal with it. Don't worry, it doesn't happen often.

I love cacao nibs so much, I'd easily admit that I'm addicted to them. Heck, why else would I buy a FIVE-pound bag of this stuff? After all, there's just one cacao nibs eater in my family and that's me. I'll go through this entire bag in a few months.

I used to like dark chocolate. I still do. But now, if you give me a choice, I'd probably prefer to eat cacao nibs instead of dark chocolate. Why? Because nibs provide such a burst of extremely complex chocolate flavors"¦it's far better than any kind of dark chocolate"¦at least that's my perception. In addition, I love their nuttiness! I'm a nut lover; I love the texture and process of chewing nuts. For me, nuts (and nibs) are satisfying in some primitive way.

I started out eating cacao nibs raw and plain. That was okay for me, because I honestly enjoy slightly bitter tastes; for example, I love eating bitter veggies and drinking bitter beers. But eventually"”with these nibs"”I gravitated toward adding a slight bit of sugar to enhance the pleasure. Here are the three ways I generally eat nibs:
1) 2 tbsp nibs with 1 tbsp diced dried dates
2) 2 tbsp nibs with 1 tsp sunflower seed butter mixed with 1 tsp stevia sweetner
3) 2 tbsp nibs with ½ tsp soft (salted) butter and 1 tsp stevia sweetner
Recipes 2 and 3 both have enough oil to make the sweetener stick to the nibs. I eat them in very small mouthfuls of about ¼ tsp at a time. Each one of these recipes allows for a burst of exceptionally complex flavors. [I tried mixing the nibs with both honey or with maple sugar, but both of those strong flavors overwhelmed the complexity of the nibs' own natural flavor, so I never tried that again. I particularly like recipes number 2 and 3 because they have a very tiny bit of salt as well as sweet and these both help enhance the complexity of the cacao flavors.]

You're probably not even reading this review if you didn't already know that cacao nibs are an outstanding source of nutrition. I don't have enough space here to explain in detail about how healthy this food is for you. If you're interested, please explore more on the Internet and learn why cacao nibs figure as one of the more important nutrient-dense superfoods, i.e., one of those exceptional natural foods that can really go to work to increase your health and help your immune system. There's no disagreement among nutritionists and doctors: cacao is exceptionally good for you.

This Healthworks Certified Organic Raw Cacao is an excellent product. I was very troubled to see a few negative reviews with high votes. What they said was just not true"¦or if it was true at one time, it is no longer true. The taste of these nibs is definitely natural raw organic cacao nibs, not roasted. There are some very occasional small pieces of shell, but no more so than any other sellers. This seller offers these nibs at a very good price. That's why I purchased them here. The last batch I ate cost significantly more but the quality and taste was no different. I'm extremely pleased I purchased these and I amhappy to give them a five-star rating.