Feature: What makes for good chocolate?

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Feature: What makes for good chocolate?

February 13, 2008 by alexa

Feature: What makes for good chocolate?
By: Alexa Williamson

For some reason, I seem to have become a chocolate connoisseur of late. (Frankly, I just review what I like and seems like it’ll be good quality.)

But, I must admit, I have developed a ‘supersense’ – being able to determine good cacao content ‘in a single bite’, picking wonderful choccie melanges through the power of scent (oh, ok, and reading the label) – although I usually leave the cape in the closet ; )

With this in mind, I wanted to relate a few points I came across, ironically, today in the London free paper, Metro, today on what constitutes ‘good chocolate’.

I agree with what they say and have learned these things from indulging in a lot of raw, organic chocolate recently, versus the ‘off the shelf’ stuff (like Cadbury’s – or even Lindt).

So, here’s how to find the good stuff:

* Fine chocolate is not just about high cacao content, which contains many antioxidants and also gives you a lovely sense of euphoria (by helping to release serotonin in the brain). But, it’s also about being preservative free.

* The difference between real chocolate and chocolate confectionary is the amount of sugar and preservatives it has in it. If the chocolate you eat has lots of sugar and preservatives in it, you are diluting all of the wonderful enzymes and antioxidants in the cacao (as described above).

* Sugar is a preservative. You’ll know there’s too much in your chocolate if you don’t get a really nice ‘serotonin buzz’ about an hour after you eat your chocolate and are digesting it. Ie – I don’t get a buzz off of regular shop bought chocolates with sugar (and preservatives in them) in them, although they may just taste yummy – if I’m lucky. My first-ever serotonin buzz was off of some ground Green and Black’s cocoa, the Raw Intent chocolate and Conscious Chocolate bars I have reviewed on this site and cocoa nibs (ie dried pieces of cocoa). This is because all of the chocolate was raw, organic, and does not contain sucrose, similar sugars or preservatives.

* Glucose and sorbitol are ingredients that will leave a “dirty aftertaste” (as labelled in the Metro article) in your mouth and are also an indicator of chocolates that are not very fresh (as these substances are also preservatives).

* The longer away the sell-by date on a chocolate bar, the more diluted the antioxidant content and the less fresh it will be.

* A real cream-filled chocolate will only have a shelf-life of a couple of weeks before the cream goes off.

* Think of the above this way, do you drink powdered milk* if you don’t have to? Or, would you eat a loaf of bread* that had been sitting on the supermarket shelf for weeks?

And with all this in mind, happy cocoa-indulging!

* Actually, I don’t think either of these are healthy foods (although admittedly I indulge in them rarely) but that’s another long story, for another time. ; )

Further information:
Raw Intent chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Conscious Chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
What’s in raw chocolate? (The London Reviewer)
Raw Intent (official site)
Conscious Chocolate (official site)

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Posted in Food reviews, Natural/organic product reviews, News and features | Tagged cacoa properties, chocolate antioxidants, chocolate reviews, chocolate serotonin, connoisseur chocolate feature, Conscious Chocolate, good chocolate feature, Good chocolate guide, good chocolate tips, healthy chocolate guide, how to find good chocolate, organic chocolate, raw chocolate, Raw Intent chocolate | 17 Comments

17 Responses

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