World of Wati: I Love Dark Chocolates!

I eat chocolates everyday without fail, but the only kind of chocolate I eat since Fredi was born in 2009 was dark chocolate of at least 72%. Since discovering healthy eating in that year, I learned to appreciate fine chocolates more and more. I now can never eat those standard milk chocolates anymore, they are too sweet for me now, not to mention the utterly horrible M&M's or Smarties, Hershey's, Snickers, Kit Kat, and even my ex-favourite Cadbury. They are just too sweet and cheap tasting, it hurts my tongue. Even the gourmet type such as Godiva is too sweet for me. I hope I don't sound snobbish.

What's the big deal about dark chocolates? They are healthier because the darker it is, the less sugar it contains. The first ingredient should be cacao mass, not sugar, for it to be dark. The high cacao content (as shown in the percentage) in dark chocolates contains more flavanoids than either green tea or red wine. This means it does good to your body including lowering blood pressure, helps prevents cancer, reduces blood clots, and has antidepressant properties. Yes, it also has higher fat content, including saturated fat, but it's the healthy type fat that you need not worry about.

So what is my favourite brand of dark chocolate? There are lots in the market and although I haven't tried them all, my favourite so far is 1848 by Poulain, followed by Lindt. I would go for at least 72%, any lower than that can be a tad too sweet and if it's higher than 86% can be a bit too strong and bitter for me. So 72% is the baseline for any good dark chocolates for me.

Since dark chocolates are rich, I don't think one can easily eat a whole bar, unless one is greedy and is utterly famish. A 100g of dark chocolate would last me up to 5 days or a week. That means I eat one or two squares a day. There was once in New Zealand when I was suddenly so hungry because I didn't eat breakfast and I reached for a square of dark chocolate, followed by another square, and another and another until I finished a whole bar of 100g. I felt so full for the rest of the day I was not hungry when it comes to dinner time. And I thought, I could easily finish off a standard very sweet chocolate of the same weight (like Snickers' King size) and have no problem getting hungry later.

I bought a selection of Whittaker's dark chocolates while in NZ (it's their national brand, like Cadbury in the UK) including 62% dark mocha just to try it. Surprisingly it wasn't as sweet as I expected, perhaps the coffee beans masked the sweetness to a degree.

Dark chocolates are also a good alternative for desserts. I hardly make any sweets now as I can easily rely on dark chocolates for my sweet tooth. Sometimes, I do want a bit of a variety than just plain dark chocolate, so I sometimes make chocolate bark. I'll melt the dark chocolate and add some chopped nuts and dried fruits. My favourites are macadamia and figs.

Sometimes, I add chopped dark choccies to make gluten free cookies. Or melt them with full fat cream in the microwave oven to make a ganache and use it either as a dipping or spread on my rice pancakes. I've also made dark chocolate balls with mascaporne cheese. There is a lot you can do with dark chocolates, if you find it a bit boring eating them plain and dark.

But boring can be a good thing as it could prevent you from over indulging. I indulge everyday and I often seek indulging foods that are nutritious. I find plain dark chocolates hardly boring at all. Bring them on!