Chocolate Is Healthy

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!.

Glamour provides the Dos and Don’ts of how to eat chocolate, and how to maximize its health benefits.

One of the first rules of eating healthy chocolate is to look for dark chocolate that is 70% cacao.  However, the article raises a great point about dark chocolate and how it can be an acquired taste, particularly for people accustomed to very sweet milk chocolate.  Doctors make the following recommendation:

“Shara Aaron, M.S., R.D, and Monica Bearden, R.D., the coauthors of Chocolate—A Healthy Passion, have a helpful tip: “You can develop a palate for the dark stuff by gradually increasing the percentage of cocoa in your chocolates and can even find some milk chocolates with 50 percent cocoa or more.”

The Dos and Don’ts of Chocolate: Health & Fitness: glamour.com.

Cacao Web shares a list of wonderful savory dishes incorporating cacao, including this delicious mole recipe.   As you may know, chocolate in its pure, unsweetened form is used in many dishes throughout Mexico.   It gives depth and body to sauces and is often enlivened by hot chiles and other herbs and spices, particularly in mole sauces.

Here’s their recipe for authentic chicken with mole negro that is much like the one we learned during our cooking class in Mexico. Check out Cacao Web’s other recipes for chile con carne and more after the jump.

Chicken with Mole Negro from Cacaoweb

Ingredients

3 tablespoons corn oil
8 whole chicken legs with thighs attached
4 dried pasilla chilies, chopped
4 dried ancho chilies, chopped
4 dried mulato chilies, chopped
1 can (14 oz / 400 g) tomatoes or 3 large, fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup (2.4 dl) chicken broth
4 tablespoons raisins
4 tablespoons peanuts, shelled and skinned
1 corn tortilla
½ teaspoon anise seeds or ¼ teaspoon ground
½ teaspoon ground pepper
½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 oz (60 g) bittersweet chocolate

3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Method

1. Cook the chicken legs until tender.
2. Roast the chilies, transfer to a bowl and add hot chicken broth. Soak until tender.
3. Roast onion, garlic and peanuts.
4. In a blender mix tomatoes, chilies, onion, garlic, raisins, peanuts, tortilla, chicken broth, salt and spices, and puree on high speed.
5. Heat the sauce, add chocolate and mix well when the chocolate has melted.
6. Add more salt or spices as needed.
7. Cook the chicken legs in the sauce at low heat until cooked through while stirring, approximately 30 minutes.
8. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve with rice and a salad.

Savory Dishes (with fish or meat) with Chocolate (recipe collection) including Chili con Carne, Mole Negro and Salmon.

While we’re often told to steer clear of saturated fats, some of the saturated fat found in chocolate is actually not harmful and doesn’t raise cholesterol.   So does this make chocolate heart healthy?    Cocoa butter still contains fat and calories that can contribute to weight gain.  So much of healthy chocolate consumption depends on how it is consumed. Here’s what Cooking Light suggests when it comes to having your chocolate and eating it too.

“Some researchers argue, however, that, regardless of stearic acid, chocolate is still a high-fat, high-calorie food. Small amounts can be worked into a healthy diet, but large quantities aren’t a recipe for good health, particularly when you consider how many Americans are overweight, says Penn State University nutritionist Penny Kris-Etherton, Ph.D. She suggests a leaner way to get that chocolate fix: Opt for cocoa, the powder formed when cocoa beans are ground and stripped of cocoa butter.”

Healthy Chocolate? – CookingLight.com.

We can’t wait to try this vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe, courtesy of the Miami Herald.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup coconut oil
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups evaporated cane juice (such as Sucanet)
• 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325 degrees and place racks toward center of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix the oil, applesauce, salt, vanilla and cane juice, blending well.

In another bowl, whisk the flour, flax meal, baking soda and xanthan gum.

Using a rubber spatula, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones, stirring until a grainy dough forms. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Using a melon baller or 1-tablespoon measure, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 1 ½ inches apart. Gently press each with the heel of your hand to flatten slightly and help them spread.

Bake 15 minutes, rotating pans 180 degrees after 9 minutes. The finished cookies will be crisp on the edges and soft in the center. Cool on the pans for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Source: Adapted from BabyCakes: Vegan, Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York’s Most Talked-About Bakery by Erin McKenna (Clarkson Potter, $24).

Per serving: 118 calories (50 percent from fat), 7.5 g fat (5.5 g saturated, 0.7 g monounsaturated), 0 cholesterol, 0.9 g protein, 15.3 g carbohydrates, 0.5 g fiber, 100.1 mg sodium.

Vegetarian Recipe: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies – Vegetarian Fare – MiamiHerald.com.