Dark Chocolate: A bittersweet story
Do you remember Hansel and Gretel, a tiny-tot fairy tale which we all might have read or heard in our kinder garden?
I believe what excited most to all of us, a house which was made of chocolate and candies.
So, what are these chocolates which excite us all and is consumed since ages, irrespective of their age groups?
Chocolate, is a sweet brown food made of roasted cocoa (Converted into powder) when mixed with sugar, milk, and few other ingredients such as preservatives, emulsifiers etc.
So, you must be thinking, do all chocolates available are same? If yes, then why do some of the chocolate bars taste so bitter than others?
Well, you are thinking right. All the chocolates available are not same, as they differ from each other on many factors like the ingredients used, the quantity of each ingredient especially cocoa used etc.
Dark Chocolates: Know it before you eat it
Dark chocolate (also called black chocolate) is primarily made from, cocoa solids, sugar, and cocoa butter. It is bitter in taste when compared with other chocolates, mainly because of the cocoa percentage. Here cocoa percentage refers to the amount of the cocoa solids used.
Dark chocolate has considerably more cocoa solids than milk chocolate. A good dark chocolate should have at least 70% cocoa solids. A good milk chocolate also contains milk powder and have 30% cocoa solids while White chocolate only contains cocoa butter but no cocoa mass. Dark chocolate is also available under different names such as semi-sweet chocolate, Bittersweet chocolate, or extra dark chocolate.
A 100 gm Unsweetened Dark chocolate with (75-80%) cocoa, consists of 6.98 g of protein,37.1 g of total fats,51 g of carbohydrates, 11.6 g of fiber. It also contains 67% RDA of Iron,58% of Magneseum,89% of copper along with plenty of phosphorus, zinc, and selenium.
On the other hand, 100 gm white chocolate has 4.4 g protein,4 g total fats,72.4 g total carbohydrates,0.8 g fiber with 0% of calcium, iron. Despite its name, white chocolate isn’t a cocoa derived product as it does not contain cocoa at all.
Dark package with brighter benefits
Cocoa, a tropical evergreen plant is a rich source of polyphenol. It contains around 6-8% of polyphenols which comprise mainly catechin, epicatechin, flavanol glycosides, anthocyanins and procyanidins.
Having such richness of polyphenols, it imparts cocoa with curative properties having various health benefits.
Dark chocolate is rich in antioxidant properties which helps to prevent the damage of body cells against the free radicals formed by the process of oxidation. It helps to reduce blood pressure and lower your risk of heart disease.
Remember someone offering you a dark chocolate when you felt drowsiness or tiredness or unable to concentrate over something. Wondered what is there in dark chocolate that helped you with above situations?
It’s an alkaloid Theobromine which is similar in structure to caffeine, which automatically make it fall in list of stimulants.
Dark chocolate also acts as a Sunscreen. Must be now thinking do you have to apply dark chocolate on skin to stay protected from sun. Well not, just eat your dark chocolate as it contains flavanols that can protect skin from sun damage, improves blood flow in skin and its hydration.
Takeaways
Buy dark chocolate with higher cocoa content to get real benefits of cocoa.
Add a piece or two of dark chocolate in your diet to get the true benefit.
whenever you eat or drink dark chocolate, feel the notion “Drink of God”.
