Chocolate is a clear example of “you get what you pay for” – while there are always exceptions, the most exquisite chocolate often costs twice, if not four times, the price of other bars. With premium products from the best small producers, you do often gain traceability to the farm, speciality bean varieties and a complexity that rivals that of the finest wines. However, much like coffee, dark chocolate also has a strong mid-range of well-certified products that also deliver on taste. That’s why supermarket own-brand speciality ranges are my usual go-tos, especially when the packaging states origin and ethical certification.
We’re pretty fanatical about chocolate in our house, so much so that I had to hide this week’s set of samples to stop us eating them all before I’d finished the tasting. Considering our steady diet of dark chocolate, I take comfort in recent studies published in Nature that found that flavonoid-rich foods – including dark chocolate, berries and tea – may support a longer, healthier life. For this reason, I usually eat 80-100%-cocoa dark chocolate, because it hits the spot without triggering sugar cravings; for most people, however, a 70% cocoa content provides the perfect balance between sweetness and intensity.
