Advanced Mediterranean Diet

I recently blogged about the health benefits of dark chocolate.

At great personal risk, I have been self-experimenting with various brands and strengths of commercially available chocolate.

Here are a few you might want to try.  I liked them all.

• Lindt Excellence Intense Dark 70% Cocoa Extra Fine Dark Chocolate.  Made in France.  Lindt also makes an Extra Dark Excellence 85% Cocoa.
• Ghirardelli Intense Dark Twilight Delight, 72% Cacao.  Smooth, velvety mouth feel.
• Botticelli Signature Premium European Dark Chocolate, 70% Cocoa.  But fine print says “Product of Canada.”  Harder than the first two and perhaps not quite as tasty.
• Green & Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate, Dark 70%.  Made in Italy.  Easy to break off a small neat dose, which is very helpful in prevention of over-eating.
• Dove 63% Cacao Silky Smooth Extra Dark Chocolate Promises.  Individually wrapped pieces weight 8 grams and have 44 calories.  Again, potentially helpful to prevent over-eating.
• Endangered Species Chocolate All-Natural Dark Chocolate with Deep Forrest Mint, 72% Cocoa.  Made in U.S.A.
• Cacao Reserve by Hershey’s, 65% Dark Chocolate with Cacao Nibs.  “Ground nibs, the heart of the cacao bean.”  Crunchy bits.  This is my favorite thus far.

Taste preferences are quite subjective.  My favorite won’t be yours.  Many variables affect the taste of a batch of chocolate, even from the same maker.  Many people find dark chocolates to be unpleasantly bitter.

If you feel guilty about the calorie and fat content of chocolate, remember that dark chocolate is an excellent source of fiber!  Four and a half grams of fiber per 40 gram serving.  But, remember, the medicinal dose of dark chocolate may be 20 grams or less every three days, on average.

I found these chocolates at supermarkets and drugstores in the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area.  Do you have any favorites that are widely available?

Steve Parker, M.D.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 11:50 am and is filed under Chocolate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.