What is the best chocolate for your health
HOW TO BUY A GOOD CHOCOLATE (RICH IN COCOA)
What is the purest cocoa?
The purest cocoa is fermented cocoa beans, which are sold whole, ground (cocoa nibs) or powdered. All cocoa is fermented. It is fermented after harvesting, because in this process it is when the aromatic compounds responsible for its flavor are formed.
Consuming pure cocoa powder or ground is the way to get as many flavonoids and antioxidant compounds as possible.
How is pure cocoa consumed?
Generally, pure cocoa powder is very bitter, so it is accompanied by sweet or sweetening ingredients like sugar, cinnamon, carob, dates to prepare recipes such as homemade cacao cream, truffles or vegan cakes.
Nor is it necessary to add sweet to consume pure cocoa, it can be added to sauces. In some countries, such as Mexico, sauces are prepared with mixtures of spices that include ground cocoa, which is the soft sauce (typical of the Oaxaca region).
Without doubt the most widespread form of eating cocoa is in the form of chocolate.
How to buy dark chocolate
Photo of dark chocolate tablet. All dark chocolate is rich in cocoa and its components
Why does dark chocolate have benefits?
It is said that dark chocolate has benefits because it has a high proportion of cocoa, which means that there are appreciable amounts of stimulant alkaloids (theobromine), antioxidant flavonoids and magnesium. From these components, it can be expected that chocolate has different properties.
Chocolate is the cocoa paste obtained from the grinding of the seeds, mixed with sugar (or other sweeteners such as fructose, stevia, agave syrup or panela) and spices such as vanilla, cinnamon, or even essential oils.
Because it contains sugar, after eating chocolate it is best to brush your teeth to prevent the occurrence of tooth decay.
In addition, chocolate can contain other ingredients, in different proportion according to the brand (milk, walnuts, almonds, etc.). People with food allergies should carefully read the ingredients.
What is the purest chocolate in the store?
A very common query is how to buy or search on the supermarket shelves for chocolate that is pure. Currently there are many types of chocolate, of different quality and proportion of cocoa.
To obtain the properties of cocoa dark chocolate, a minimum of 70% cocoa is recommended. Chocolate that has a high percentage of cocoa is called “dark chocolate”.
The best chocolate for health is the dark chocolate with the highest amount of cocoa |
How to read the label of dark chocolate
To find a dark chocolate rich in cocoa we can guide you through advertising, but you should always confirm the information by referring to the ingredients on the label. In authentic dark chocolates, advertising is usually very good: 70% cocoa (or higher).
You should read the list of ingredients, in which the cocoa paste has to be the first ingredient of any dark chocolate. In foods, the ingredients are listed in the ingredients in order from highest to lowest amount, so in a dark chocolate the first ingredient should be the cocoa paste.
Authentic dark chocolate is advertised as “70% cocoa” (or higher) and the first ingredient is cocoa. The proportion of sugar varies (see nutrition table)
* Related information: Properties of chocolate
More information on cocoa and chocolate
