Healthy Dark Chocolate Spotting
Actually, you only need two ingredients to make chocolate cocoa beans and sugar, but in reality, both, what should be in your chocolate - and ingredients that should NOT be [but almost always are] found in popular, premium dark chocolate. Without remising to address the ingredients list, how to spot the difference between the Good, Bad and Healthy dark chocolate like a Pro? Read your ingredients lists carefully and consider which of the following you want in your chocolate. When it comes to ingredients, less is almost always more ??. The following are the ingredients you may find in YOUR chocolate:
1. Flavors (extremely common)
Good King, like many other makers, adds pure and natural herbs, spices and essential oils to create flavored snacks accordingly:
? In chocolate, these ingredients are all called inclusions - flavors paired with chocolate.
? Yet, there are other pesky ingredients that aren’t inclusions.
? Rather, they’re added to make bars more cheaply or hide flaws.
? Like Soy Oil that is prettier than lecithin and others….
2. Soy[a] Lecithin (extremely common) Soy Lecithin is typically listed as an emulsifier in chocolate and more accurately:
? It is used to aid manufacturing speeds, and keep chocolate from blooming during temperature and humidity swings.
? Aside from being GMO-derived, soy lecithin is typically extracted using chemical solvents such as hexane, ethanol, acetone, petroleum ether or benzene.
? Some people not excited about eating food extracted with chemicals that are toxic to ingest!
? If you feel the same, you have two options:
o Search the ingredients label for organic soy lecithin or sunflower lecithin (Beyond Good, Dandelion, Divine and Charm School). Both of these lecithins are non- GMO and solvent-free.
o Avoid Lecithin altogether with these brands: Good King, Theo, Equal Exchange and Askinosie.
3. Natural Flavors [& Spices] (extremely common)
Did you know the fourth most common ingredient in prepared / pre-packaged foods in the US (behind water, sugar & salt) is “Natural Flavors”? Plus, “natural flavors” can make a HUGE difference in your experience and should be detailed likewise:
? Check your pantry – it’s EVERYWHERE!
? So long as there aren’t nutrient properties, the FDA allows us to combine Natural Flavors [& colors], Artificial Flavors [& colors] and spices to simplify the ingredient label.
? My observation: if it’s an appealing ingredient that belongs in the ingredient list, companies list it.
? If not, they don’t.
4. Natural Flavors [& Spices] (extremely hided) Aside from the general transparency issues, these “catch-all” terms can hide:
? Food allergies / sensitivities (for those allergic to something outside the top 8)
? Animal products (for Vegans and Vegetarians on products that don’t make the specific claim)
? Chemically processed foods (so long as they’re derived from a plant or animal)
5. Healthy Dark Chocolate: Clean Ingredients
Let’s use our Love and Joy flavors as an example. From our full, unabbreviated ingredients list, you’ll be able to tell they taste NOTHING alike for:
? Flavor: LOVE
o Full Ingredients List:
Cacao Beans*, Cane Sugar*, Vanilla Extract* (vanilla bean extractives* in water, alcohol*), Cinnamon*, Salt, Nutmeg*, Cloves*, Cardamom*, Cacao Butter*. * = Organic
o Abbreviated Ingredients List:
Cacao Beans*, Cane Sugar*, Spice*, Salt, Natural Flavor*. * = Organic
? Flavor: JOY
o Full Ingredients List:
Cacao Beans*, Cane Sugar*, Rosemary*, Salt, Dried Mint*, Peppermint Essential Oil, Spearmint Essential Oil, Cacao Butter*. * = Organic
o Abbreviated Ingredients List:
Cacao Beans*, Cane Sugar*, Spice*, Salt, Natural Flavor. * = Organic
领英推荐
? Watch for this practice on most grocery store and drug store brands (especially flavored products), no matter their price.
6. Healthy Dark Chocolate: Detectors
Now can you tell the difference between Love and Joy based on their abbreviated ingredients list? I can’t (aside from one little *) …??and that is:
? Here’s the decoder for Love:
o Spice* = Cinnamon*, Salt, Nutmeg*, Cloves*, Cardamom*
o Natural Flavor* = Vanilla Extract* (vanilla bean extractives* in water, alcohol*),Cacao Butter*
? And here’s the decoder for Joy:
o Spice* = Rosemary*, Dried Mint*
o Natural Flavor = Peppermint Essential Oil, Spearmint Essential Oil, Cacao Butter*
? While I love a short ingredients list, I still want ALL of the ingredients to be listed!
7. Vanillin (aka Imitation Vanilla, common) While this significantly cheaper flavor may fool our taste buds, vanillin is chemically derived from wood tar or pulp waste [more specifically, guaiacol or lignin] and accordingly:
? In most cases, it doesn’t even qualify as a “natural flavor” …
? Therefore, we use an incredible organic vanilla extract from Cook’s (4th generation family business who primarily trades directly) made from real vanilla beans for our Love flavor.
? Vanillin may be hidden in “artificial flavors” if the manufacturer so chooses and notably,Whole Foods will not even allow the ingredient in its stores.
? Like natural flavors, it is mostly found in grocery and drugstore brand chocolates including Ghirardelli, Lindt and Godiva and the brands listed are all free of vanillin.
8. Milk Fat (common)
I used to believe that dark chocolate couldn’t have any milk products in it. I was wrong for:
? Lately, I’ve noticed milk fat appearing in many dark chocolate bars with high cacao content to balance and smooth out bitterness in low quality cacao (in addition toprocessing with alkali which you can read more about here).
? If you’re allergic to milk/dairy, eating a Vegan diet, trying to eat more sustainably, or trying to limit your fat intake – you’ll want to watch out for milk fat even in the darkest ofchocolate bars (thankfully it WILL be listed as an allergen).
? Any of the brands I mention above for not using soy lecithin do not add milk fat in their dark chocolate bars.
? Likewise, you can shop dairy-free online at Chocolopolis. This is, however, something you’ll want to watch out for in many groceries store brands.
9. Glucose Syrup (aka corn syrup, common)
Glucose Syrup is a 6-step processed sugar syrup made primarily from corn, but can also be made from potatoes, wheat, barley, rice or cassava and accordingly:
? It adds sweetness and bulk to candy.
? No better or worse than other sugars (except for it being more highly processed), but it will often be listed as an ingredient separate from sugar.
? While glucose may make it sound “purer” in some way, file it in the same category in your brain as sugar.
? This is, however, something you’ll want to watch out for in many groceries store brands - along with high fructose corn syrup as well!
Which of these ingredients did you find in YOUR chocolate? Any surprises? For:
? If you’re beginning to feel a bit like a broken record, leave us a note in the comments section below.
? Any of the brands I mention above for not using soy lecithin do not use glucose or corn syrup in the chocolate. Yikes.
? Interested in learning more about eating chocolate for your health? Subscribe (in the lower right) to our mailing list to receive updates directly in your inbox.
? Finally, to order Clean Ingredient Snacking Cacao direct to your mailbox check out: Healthy Snacks Comparison - the results will surprise you!
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