May 6, 2010: Come Over to the Dark Side
Say the word chocolate quietly, and every woman in a 10 mile radius will cock an ear. Say it loudly, and the world will beat a path to your door. That is, until you add one little 4-letter adjective before it.
Dark chocolate is as much derided as it is treasured. A trip through the free Hershey's Chocolate World tour will show you that the only difference between dark chocolate and milk chocolate is the amount of milk solids (and with some types, sugar) added to it. But when speaking with people, you'd think it was a completely different substance.
There was great rejoicing several years ago when someone came out and got brave enough to announce that chocolate was good for you. When I was growing up, every so often you'd hear a nutrition rumor that people craved chocolate when they needed magnesium, or they craved chocolate because they needed the theobromine in it the way coffee drinkers need caffeine. But it was pretty gutsy for someone just to flat out say that 1/3 of smores was actually good for you...and excellent press for places like Hershey's and Nestle's.
As usual, what was heard and what was truth were closely related and far apart. So here's the skinny on chocolate: the closer it is to the cacao (pronounced ca-cow--and, of course, "cacao" is currently much more in fashion than saying a plain old "cocoa") bean, the better it is for you. This is because the cocoa bean has lovely nutrients in it like Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, C, E; the minerals magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese; soluble and insoluble fiber; saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids (which is the cocoa butter). In addition, they are strong in polyphenols (the things you're supposed to drink red wine and grape juice for), which also have antioxidant properties. This isn't even touching the unknown or underknown phytonutrients in the bean.
But just as processing any food will remove nutrients, processing the cocoa bean by roasting it, removing the nib from the hull, pressing it to remove the liquor (and creating a cocoa powder cake in the process), and then adding that to sugar and milk and some of the cocoa fats mixed back not only creates a less nutritious cacao product, but it has souped it up with some other less desireable features.
Enter dark chocolate. While not necessarily less processed, it does contain more of the what makes the cacao so nutritious and less of the sugar and milk fats. Dark chocolate relies on the cacao bean's own natural fats for its creaminess--which affects the texture.
Comparing Dark Chocolate Bar BrandsI'm actually a hardcore dark chocolate lover. This means that I want the cacao content to be over 80% of the ingredients. I think to term this "bittersweet" is generous (and cruel to the unsuspecting.) Since I figured there must be a few of us out there, I did my own unscientific blind survey of the 6 most popular high cacao content chocolate bars. I bought the bars by Ghiradelli, Lindt & Sprüngli, Green and Black's®, Endangered Species®, Scharffen Berger®, and Dagoba®. Each person on the panel (a family member) received a small tidbit that they were to place on their tongue and wait 10 seconds before chewing. After that, I wanted their comments on the texture, taste while chewing, and aftertaste. We rinsed with water or milk in-between brands, and remember that these comments simply reflect an opinion. I've compiled them below.
| %cacao | Ingred/ Nutr |
Texture | Taste | Aftertaste | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green & Blacks® Organic | 85% | (click for label) | Creamy | true bitter w/ a sour overtone | yes | environmentally conscious company; organic |
| Lindt Excellence Extra Dark | 85% | (click for label) | crumbly; not creamy; not smooth |
bitter but not overpowering; chocolate-y |
not so much | |
| Dagoba Eclipse™ | 87% | (click for label) | not creamy; almost gritty; very crumbly; waxy |
plain; strong; tastes like cocoa |
yes | "portions of every sale help fund tree planting projects in Cost Rica" a fave of one of the panel |
| Endangered Species® | 88% | (click for label) | creamy slightly waxy |
almost sweet; slightly burnt flavor; tastes like cocoa smells |
not much | "10% of net profits donated to help species, habitat, humanity"; a fave of one of the panel |
| Scharffen Berger® Fine Artisan Dark Chocolate | 82% | (click for label) | moderately smooth | "Oh that tastes horrible"; strong flavor all way through; almost fermented cocoa taste; "tastes like a geranium smells when you water it" |
not much | simply cacao beans, sugar, and whole vanilla beans |
| Ghirardelli Intense Dark™ Midnight Reverie™ | 86% | (click for label) | creamy; smooth; cool |
mellow taste all the way thru; smooth cocoa taste; hint of coconut flavor? |
no | a fave of one of the panelists |
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