Chocolate Is Healthy

While there is an increasing number of vegan and fair trade chocolatiers, there are fewer making raw chocolate bars.   It’s an expensive and labor intensive process that leads to very high price tags.

The Village Voice profiled two relatively new raw chocolate bars, both based in Brooklyn, New York.  One is “Bean to Bar” by Jacques Torres.  The other is the lesser-known Mast Brothers who make gorgeously-packaged from-scratch artisan chocolate bars.  We are delighted that attention is being given to the nuances as raw chocolate.  Just as there is tremendous variety within processed dark chocolate bars, raw chocolate bars can vary significantly in flavor and depth.

Here’s where the article netted out:

“Both bars, in other words, offered completely different experiences, and beauty that was very much in the eye of the beholder. The Masts and Torres are doing excellent work, so calling one better than the other based solely upon taste does a disservice both to them and to the highly subjective reactions that chocolate inspires. If you want a more bitter, idiosyncratic bar, you want the Masts. If you want a smoother, more comforting bar, then go for the Torres.”

Battle of the Dishes: Bean to Bar Chocolate Bars From Jacques Torres and Mast Brothers – New York Restaurants and Dining – Fork in the Road.

If you’re thinking about giving a gourmet chocolate gift this season, we strongly suggest you check out the Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club.  Similar to a “fruit-of-the-month” or “cheese-of-the-month,” Chocolate of the Month Club members get world class, gourmet chocolates each month.

The artisan chocolate selections provided in the Chocolate-of-the-Month Club are renowned brands including Spain’s Rabitos Chocolate and Vosges Haut Chocolat.  All handmade and rich in the world’s finest cocoa, this monthly membership is like giving several gifts in one.  It is a guaranteed hit because most people love chocolate, so you know it won’t go to waste.  Plus, given the explosion of interest in gourmet food and drink, this unique and thoughtful gift will please even a chocolate connoisseur with a sophisticated palette.

As part of the gift, they’ll receive an incredible newsletter that provides detailed information on the chocolatiers and their backgrounds.  Conveniently, you can pay for several months up front, or be billed as each selection ships.  You choose the start and end times, and frequency of each chocolate selection, with prices starting at under $35.

This is an interesting discussion at The Chocolate Life about whether raw chocolate is healthier (or tastier) than roasted chocolate.   We’ve heard that roasting chocolate destroys some of its nutritional properties, but is that really true?   As far as taste, you wouldn’t eat raw coffee beans, and roasted chocolate can taste better than raw chocolate.

“Recently, at a San Francisco chocolate event, I overheard the people at the Xocai booth telling the public that the heathful anti-oxidants in chocolate are destroyed by roasting, which is clearly not the case when you look at ORAC ratings. However I would be very interested to hear any thoughts on actually how much of a change roasting makes, and any references to studies on this. Raw chocolate has not been cooked past 114 degreesF I believe, does it taste as good?……”

Raw chocolate, how raw is it really? – The Chocolate Life.

CBS News provides highlights from the annual New York Chocolate Show, a fascinating chocolate experience whether you are in “the business” or not.  While many of the show’s chocolate offerings are for eating, chocolate or cocoa butter is becoming a more popular ingredient in skin care products.

Here’s what one chocolate business owner has to say about the health benefits of chocolate skin care products.

“Vanessa “Chocolate Girl” Bard, the founder of Gnosis Chocolate Body Care, told Lee that between 60 to 80 percent of what you put on your skin goes into your bloodstream.

“What’s better than putting chocolate on your skin as a way of nourishing yourself?” Bard said. “(Because) chocolate, we all know, (is) extremely high in antioxidants, and minerals, and vitamins, so it turns out you can nourish yourself with chocolate soap.”

Chocolate Show Delights – The Early Show – CBS News.

Little did we know that such a great, interesting debate was taking place on the subject of chocolate milk until we came across the site of Chef Ann Cooper, Renegade Lunch Lady.

According to many, including the National Dairy Council, white milk is healthy.  But chocolate milk?   The organization seems to think so.  However, the chocolate “flavoring” in chocolate milk amounts to a considerable amount of added sugar, and certainly none of the health benefits we’ve come to learn about from chocolate.   Chef Ann Cooper in Boulder, Colorado managed to get chocolate milk banned from schools.  Since the sugar in chocolate milk can lead to unhealthy weight gain in children, as well as obesity and diabetes, this seems to make a lot of sense.  Yet this is an unpopular sentiment, at least among some celebrities and the National Dairy Council who suggest chocolate milk is just as healthy as white milk.

Here’s the pro-chocolate milk stance:

“Chocolate milk lovers worldwide dismiss the anti-chocolate milk sentiment as something between an annoyance and an assault on baseball and apple pie. “Kids drink it,” they keep saying, “kids like it.” The subtext: otherwise they’d drink something like Sunny Delight, or soda, with 20 to 25 teaspoons of sugar per eight-ounce serving (and, typically consumed in 12-ounce portions). And the nutrients in milk, including calcium, Vitamin A and potassium, are among those which are often deficient among children.”

Chef Ann Cooper : Renegade Lunch Lady » Great Blog on Chocolate Milk!.