CHOCOLATE – CAN YOUR PASSION ALSO BE GOOD FOR YOU? Do you have the chocolate-lover’s gene?
Are you hard-wired to salivate when you see it, smell it, read about it, hear people talking about it, or merely think about it? If you’re like me, the answer is a resounding YES! But most things that give us so much pleasure are “bad” for us. We even describe them as “sinful.” Does our beloved chocolate fall into that category? Does it have anything going for it other than the obvious joy it brings us? Here are some things you may not know: Chocolate stimulates the secretion of endorphins, producing a pleasurable sensation similar to a “runner’s high.”
Chocolate contains a neurotransmitter, serotonin, that acts as an anti-depressant. In fact, there are over 300 chemicals contained in chocolate that make us feel so good! Dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure — if you’ve reached a certain age and have mild hypertension. Dark chocolate contains an antioxidant called flavanol, which keeps oxygen free radicals from damaging your cells.
Are you tempted to start replacing healthy foods with chocolate? Something from the three main food groups – milk, dark, and white – at each meal? Be careful! Chocolate still contains a lot of fat and calories, so you’ll have to eat less of other things. A 100-gram bar of a well-known Special Dark Chocolate has 531 calories, while a 100-gram apple has only 52 calories. But think about it…would you want to miss out on the delicious blood pressure and other health benefits? Take two bars and call me in the morning!!
(image courtesy http://www.nickygrant.com/shop/chocolate-gifts/large-venezuelan-heart)
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Written by: Daniel P.
Complexity in Cacao Evokes True Valentines Day Love
Do you like chocolate? Perhaps even love it? Most of us do. However, the vast majority of people regularly consume mass-marketed candy-like chocolate akin to those handed out on Halloween to little kids. Occasionally, one may even venture to enjoy a Lindt or Ghirardelli bar as a guilty pleasure. However, the real truth is that while these treats may be delicious they really do a disservice to the true potential of the cacao bean by masking the flavors with an overload of cocoa butter, milk, and sugar. The more expensive cacao bean is scarcely used in favor of cheaper ingredients which satisfy ones need for a sugary treat.
True cacao connoisseurs know that cacao beans grow in many different equatorial climates around the world and possess deep, sometimes subtle complex flavor notes according to the climate and soil profiles of the particular region the beans are grown in. These complex flavors are present in the cacao bean and only require a little sugar to be brought to life. Adding a plethora of other ingredients will only mask the great flavors the beans provide as previously mentioned.
True cacao aficionados (maybe even snobs) will admit that dark chocolate, and particularly artisan dark chocolate, is the only real way to enjoy the full potential of the cacao beans. There are different methods of making artisan chocolate from stone grounding, to smoking beans, to intensely ground beans resulting in a smooth mouth feel.
Valentines day is about love and love tends to be a complex thing when you really think about it. Real chocolate is almost equally as complex and thus makes a great treat to enjoy yourself or with a loved one on valentines day. We recommend finding a local artisan chocolate maker and trying some single origin chocolate bars or even those with added nuts, salt, oils, or other aromatics. Beware though, dark chocolate is not a beginners chocolate.
Single origin bars or bars made with scarce bean harvests may cost significantly more than candy-like chocolate, but the complexity is definitely worth it. Let the chocolate melt in your mouth, as opposed to scarfing it down, in order to slowly let the flavors release and mingle on your palette. If you like dark chocolate, there is a lot of possibilities out there to try as artisan chocolate making is trending in the U.S. and around the world. The flavor possibilities are endless so start sampling!