I was never into Chocolate.
For some unknown reason, I just never enjoyed chocolate. It was not an essential food for me, and I can say with certainty that I haven’t had anything chocolate related in at least couple of years.
Then it changed.
I read a fascinating article about a week ago on the Dallas Food blog. It was investigating journalism at its best.
The articles are an expose of Noka chocolate which is supposed to be the most expense chocolate on the planet at more than $2,000 a pound.
Now, I’m not into chocolate, but my wife JY is a huge chocolate fan. She kept on bringing home Dove Rich Dark Chocolate, Ghiradelli, and Hershey’s Symphony Milk Chocolate. She goes though them pretty quickly. Since I don’t normally eat chocolate, I don’t really know what drew her to it.
While reading the Dallas Food article, I remembered seeing some recent researches on the health benefits of dark chocolate, such as this WebMD article.
This got my intrigued. There were two questions on my mind. What are good chocolate for me to try? The rationale behind this question was maybe I was not into chocolate because the ones I tried before wasn’t that great tasting. Also, how can I achieve the maximum benefits from chocolate without incurring the negative effects of the additional fat and sugar contained with in.
After quite some research, I think I found the answer to both of my questions to be extra dark chocolate, and unsweetened cocoa drink.
If you look at the ingredient label of most supermarket chocolate, the first one is usually sugar. Which means there is more sugar in the chocolate bar than cocoa. I don’t think that’s healthy.
The dark chocolate, especially the extra dark, also called bittersweet chocolate has much less sugar, you can actually get them unsweetened. However, I think the unsweetened variety is a bit too bitter. Sugar actually enhances some of the chocolate flavors. I make my cut-off point at 70% cocoa content. There are milk chocolate on the market that approaches that, but I will not consider them because some research showed milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate, so they are out of the question.
I think the best way to enjoy chocolate, both it’s taste and health benefit is to take extra dark chocolate in moderation. Whatever additional calories I take in with chocolate needs to be balanced by reducing calories from other foods. And since moderation is key, I definitely want only quality chocolate.
Fortunately, the Dallas Food article also recommended some brands of quality to try. I’ve ordered a bunch of from Chocosphere, and just got them couple of days ago.
I ordered couple of Domori bars that were on sale, a Michel Cluizel Les 1ers Crus de Plantation, a Lindt Excellence 75% bar, and a Bonnat Ceylan bar.
So far, I’ve only tasted the Domori Chacao Absolute bar. Compare to my control sample, which was the Ghiridelli 60% Cacao bar I got from a local supermarket, the Domori bar was slightly more bitter, but with much more layers of tastes to it. Not being chocoholic, the difference was quite obvious, maybe it’s even more pronounced for those in the know.
I’ll report back on the other bars once I have a chance to taste them with my wife.
The ones still on my list for my next order are:
Amedei Chuao
Bonnat Chuao
E Guittard L’Harmonie
Lindt Excellence 85%
Valhona Guanaja
I may also get some Michel Cluizel or Santander Chocolate covered Espresso bean as well.
What’s your favorite chocolate? Have your tried any of the above?