Rachael Ray

I have a friend named Emily who is literally obsessed with chocolate.  30 years ago when we were kids, I would find Snickers bar wrappers in her coat pocket and think she was really crazy.  I grew up allergic to chocolate and had not even tasted it until I was 25 years old! I know, it’s crazy but true.  Once I hit 25, allergies all gone, I had a sample and never looked back.  I think I have made up for the lack of chocolate in those first 25 years since I took my first bite.  Why is chocolate so appealing to us?

Chocolate is a drug, but a good one

Chocolate contains more than 300 chemicals, including caffeine and others that can give you a slightly euphoric feeling.  If you are especially sensitive to caffeine, a good strong piece of dark chocolate will most certainly give you a boost.  There are other chemicals in chocolate that make you feel stimulated, but none of these chemicals is harmful or appear in large quantities in chocolate

Good for you?

Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is good for you in small doses.  It contains antioxidents, similar to those you find in red wine (gee it’s funny how much I enjoy both wine and chocolate- let me guess coffee is next).  If you can tolerate a dark chocolate with more that 60% cacao, then you will be ingesting less milk and less sugar.  It’s kind of like black coffee versus light and sweet coffee. A little dark chocolate can help prevent plaque buildup in your arteries, but too much of a good thing just means excess calories and that is not good for you.

Dark versus milk and white

White chocolate is not really chocolate because there are no cocoa solids.  There’s no more to this story.  Milk chocolate becomes milk because of the ingredients added to dark chocolate, namely milk, sugar and cocoa butter.  Dark is the better choice for health reasons, and personally I find it more satisfying because it has such intense flavor. So have a square or two of dark instead of a half a bar of milk. You may see “liquor” on the label under ingredients and wonder what that is-it is not an alcoholic product, but instead it is the result of grinding and liquifying the inside of a cocoa bean and mixing it with cocoa butter to form a liquid used to then make dark, semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolates.

Nouveau chocolates

If you explore the world of haute chocolate, you will find some crazy concoctions.  Here I wanted to share some that grabbed my attention:

Pretzel-Covered Sea Salted Caramels from Bespoke

I could eat these day and night and be happy, even if the world was crumbling around me.

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Jacques Torres’ Chocolate Covered Popcorn

You can tell I like the whole salt/sweet thing, eh?

Vosges Bacon Chocolate Bar was featured on Rachael’s show once and the crowd went wild

Vosges has tons of exotic chocolate bars and truffles and they have a whole line of organics.

From Napa Chocolatiers, Woodhouse comes Caramel Helenas-pure decadence.

It’s two buttery almond crisps sandwiching caramel and then dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt.

Christopher Elbow’s Artisanal Chocolates, including this one which is infused with lime juice and zest!  Here’s also got one called Bananas Foster and a line of exotic caramels.

Chocolates by George is a shop featuring handmade chocolates in Washington state’s Whidbey Island.  I love one of his collections called “World” which features dark chocolates made from beans from 6 different locations.  It’s billed as a true chocolate lover’s gift because it allows you to taste how different chocolate, just like wine, can taste given different soils and climates.  Added bonus?  No chocolate in this pack is under 70% cacao content-bring it on!

Have you found any crazy chocolate flavors out there?  What are your favorites?  These are just a few of mine!

Sources: Exploratorium Magazine, Wikipedia