JPHiP Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: chera on October 18, 2006, 06:56:33 AM
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Do you like chocolate? Do you love chocolate? Do you get high from chocolate?
I'm a mad addict for chocolate - dark chocolate. I liked milk chocolate when I was a kid, and was too cheap and didn't know any better. I liked hot chocolate when I was a kid too, but eventually, I started preferring cappuccino over coco, and then espresso over cappuccino. I generally prefer it straight, without nuts, and never with rum, orange, raisins, or fruit.
My favorites so far have been Ghiradelli 72% and Hershey's 65% with Cacao Nibs. Ghiradelli's 72% is very smooth and creamy, with little sourness/acidity/astringency. Yet it is has a very strong "chocolate-nature". Probably the best straight chocolate I've ever tasted.
Hershey's 65% with Cacao Nibs is incredible. More bitter than Ghiradelli's 72%. The cacao nibs add this wonderful nutty crunch to it. A fantastic chocolate; I prefer it over Ghiradelli 72%. But it is a bit hard to find.
Lotte 85% is surprisingly good. No astringency, and not sweet at all. But it is hardly bitter at all. The taste isn't as complex or rich as I would expect from that high a percentage of cacao. Lindt 70% is very bitter and powerful, but has a very distinct sour/acid/astringent taste. Meiji 99% is unbearable. Incredibly bitter with a powerful sour aftertaste. Wonderfully unique, but not really edible.
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Chocolate is EVIL.
But, it's just so darn good :heart: I love it, but of course, I only eat it once in a while. The fact that you don't eat it all the time makes it taste better too, don't you know? Heehee. Milk chocolate is my favorite, but I also love some dark chocolate once in a while.
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I :heart: chocolate so much! I first had to have white chocolate 'cause of something weird, then after something, I was able to have milk chocolate.
Now, I love a~all chocolate! Love cappuchino and hot chocolate. ^_^
Chera:heart: for making this thread. XD
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White chocolate is my favourite, but I'm not impartial to either milk or dark either! My favourite chocolate would be either Chunky KitKat Peanut Butter, Mint Aero and Toblerone :heart:
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Dark chocolate has the most of the real chocolate flavour because it has the largest concentration of cocoa solids. White chocolate, for example, doesn't have any cocoa solids, and thus isn't considered to actually "be" a type of chocolate by cooks/candymakers. Plus, out of all the choices, dark chocolate has the most of the anti-oxidants that the doctor's are saying the body needs. The higher the percentage of cocoa solids, the better.
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i've read a report that said rich people like dark chocolate, probably because it goes good with wine. the middle class likes milk chocolate *drooool* and poor people and the lactose intolerant like white chocolate and pancakes. aliens don't like chocholate.
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I admit I'm chocolate addict :drool: -I bought all kinds of chocolate from 100-yen shop in Namba but most of it wasn't so good.
I like Trinidad 75% -sold only in Lidl. They have also Ecuador 70%. Also it is studied that flavonoid-rich dark chocolate is really good for health.
(http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/8570/96285rc2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
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What ! I have to choose one type!! no way i love chocolate always have always will i am sure!!!!
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Lindt Excellence 85% is wonderful! It's got this incredibly rich complex nutty taste. The most subtle, barely there hint of sweetness. Awesome - much much better than Lotte 85%. The taste just lingers and lingers.
Ghiradelli 72% has just been dethroned: Long Live Lindt 85%!
Also bought but not yet tried are Guylian Belgian Dark Chocolate (no sugar, Maltitol instead) and Hershey's Extra Dark Pure Dark Chocolate with 60% Cacao.
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I love milk chocolate! I eat it everyday... >_<
I know it's not good, but I just can't stop it... It's too good to stop... XD
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Where's the "all chocolate types" choice?
Well I chose Dark chocolate because all that cocoa is good for your heart and other parts of your body, it tastes splendid and rich.
One brand of chocolate I really hate is Hershy's. It tastes cheap and mass-produced. it's not supposed to taste mass-produced. Nestle and Godiva are one of the best brands, mostly because they're not American.
Dark champagne truffles are my absolute favourite. mmm i'll be ordering some candies from australia next week, it would have been 6 years since i tried my favourite candies.
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Chocoholic 4 Life!!!!!
Even though I love all chocolate, I gotta go with dark chocolate as the one I like best.
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milk chocolate:heart:
i dont really have a favorite brand though .. i love chocolate .. not just plain chocolate chunks.. milk, cakes, ice cream.. i love them all chocolate flavoured..
but like arian said.. chocolate is evil XD ..
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I lvoe milk and white chocolate best!
I voted for milk cause I can eat mroe of it at once, whereas I find white chocolate hard to eat a lot of at once.
Though I do love these milk+dark chocolates I've been having recently, they're mostly milk so it's all good :D
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White chocolate please.
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I used to LOVE white chocolate, but lately, I've been hooked on dark chocolate!
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god all sorts of chocolate owns me...and halloween makes it so much easier to get *chomps on a twix*
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white chocolate <33
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I love white chocs..they are the best ^^
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Try this out: Nestle Treasures Renew. It's 50% cocoa, with crunchy cocoa bits and a creamy filling. This stuff is good, with a rich creamy semi-dark chocolate taste. The roasted cocoa bean filling adds a nice natural crunch. A tad bit too sweet, though. It's 40% sugar, and unfortunately, they load it up with palm oil.
Not as good as Hershey's Cacao Reserve 65% with Cacao Nibs, but that variety of Hersheys is hard to find.
I wish Lindt would make an 85% with cacao nibs - just the thought of it makes my head explode.
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My fav is dark chocolate, which all my friends seem to dislike..
I'm not a big fan of chocolate though.. I don't like chocomilk/chocomel (it that the correct english term?! and I can't stand chocolate icecream..
White chocolate is ok, but I don't think it's technically chocolate.. haha, I never typed the word chocolate so many times in a minute.
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This weeks find was Columbian chocolate, specifically "Luker" brand unsweetened 100% chocolate. Yep, 100%. No sugar, no emulsifier. It tasted.... not bad! I was expecting an unbearably bitter/sour taste like Meiji 99%. But this was surprisingly edible. It had a distinctly nutty taste/smell, similar to the taste/smell of soybean powder. You can really tell that what you're eating is ground up beans! That being said, it isn't something I'd eat for fun - the taste is simply too strong.
I did try melting it and making chocolate milk out of it though. The result was horrible. Without emulsifiers, the result was a coarsely dissolved lumpy mess. Not too different from what would happen if you took 100% soybean powder and tried mixing it with water. Still, this stuff is special, really cheap (250g only $1.99), and you should give it a try. I found it in an ethnic supermarket, where Luker branded chocolate got more shelf space than Nestle or Hersheys.
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I just remembered that I was addicted to Hershey's Kisses when I was a little kid :heart:
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Godiva Milk Chocolate Truffles... Need I say more? :inlove: LOL
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I LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!
I chose milk chocolate, but actually as long as it's good choc i'll eat it.
Especially that yum-as caramel crunchy Lindtt! (is that how you spell it??)
Hot chocolate!! Iced Chocolate!! Chocolate everything! You name it, I'll eat it!! :)
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i like dark chocolate among the choices.... it has a richer and fuller taste. but my fav is the mint chocolate.
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I:heart: Dark chocolate I love its bitter sweet taste
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White Chocolate :heart:
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http://www.scharffenberger.com/ (http://www.scharffenberger.com/)
the 62% cacao mocha is mah fave~
im currently eating chocolate coins though. which is weird, because im not jewish.
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http://www.scharffenberger.com/ (http://www.scharffenberger.com/) the 62% cacao mocha is mah fave~
Thanks for the tip! I'm putting in an order right now: bars of 62%, 70, 82%, and 99%, as well as Roasted Cacao Nibs and Cocoa Powder.
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Thanks for the tip! I'm putting in an order right now: bars of 62%, 70, 82%, and 99%, as well as Roasted Cacao Nibs and Cocoa Powder.
ah, i've actually spotted them at the "express" lane at whole foods columbus circle, in little variety packs--if you happen to have a craving. of course, you'd pay nyc prices, but no matter, they're still amazing!
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I like those seashell chocolates. One of the best i've eaten in asia. actually, as long as they're chocolate, i'll crave for it =X
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This weeks find was Columbian chocolate, specifically "Luker" brand unsweetened 100% chocolate.... I found it in an ethnic supermarket
Which ethnic supermarket specifically? This sounds exactly like the type of chocolate I've been looking for.
Btw Can anyone recommend some other dark chocolates with low sugar content and don't have that sour taste? Bitter is fine, I much prefer bitter over sour.
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I like all chocolate. But I think white chocolate and milk chocolate are my favorites.
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Chocolates is nice and healthy , I love all but milk is da best !! :spam:
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This weeks find was Columbian chocolate, specifically "Luker" brand unsweetened 100% chocolate.... I found it in an ethnic supermarket
Which ethnic supermarket specifically? This sounds exactly like the type of chocolate I've been looking for.
Can anyone recommend some other dark chocolates with low sugar content and don't have that sour taste? Bitter is fine, I much prefer bitter over sour.
Met Foods near the Jackson Heights subway station in Queens NY. I think any market with a large Columbian/Mexican/Latino customers should stock it.
ohbahsan, if you want high cacao content without the sour taste, Luker is probably your thing. There is absolutely no sour taste at all. Just this rich bitterness and massive nuttiness that hits you like a kick to the head. Comes in this ugly yellow wrapper, taped up rather crudely. My dad calls this stuff "authentically 3rd world."
Luker also makes "Sol" brand sweetened dark chocolate (no milk, about 60% sugar). This stuff is dirt cheap ($1.99 for a half kilo block), and you get what you pay for. Upon breaking off a block, you see it packed inside with grains of sugar. It seems that they add the sugar directly into the cooling liquified cocoa-butter/cocoa-solid mixture. As the mixture cools into blocks, it doesn't have time to dissolve the grains. It doesn't taste like sweet dark chocolate; instead it tastes like you've taken a chunk of pure dark chocolate followed by a tablespoon full of grain sugar. Don't bother.
Today, I tried two things:
Ghirardelli's 100% Cacau Chocolate ($2.19). Sold in 113g bars, and labelled "baking bar", even though it looks like Ghirardelli's normal bars and is priced similarly. The texture is smooth, and the the flavour mildly bitter. But quite sour, which I don't like. The espresso nazi in me associates that sourness with old beans and water that's not hot enough. It's different for cacao, but old tastes are hard to shake off. On the plus side, Ghirardelli's is very smooth and rich. Biting off a small chunk and just holding it in your mouth is like holding a chunk of pork fat in your mouth: it takes forever to dissolve. The texture is very refined, and it melts very smoothly. Not as dry/crunchy as Meiji 99%, and not as sour either. It has none of the strong nuttiness of Luker 100%.
On a whim, I bought a 28g stick of 100% Cococare cocoa butter ($2.79). "Ideal for dry skin and stretch marks," is what the label says. No warning against ingestion. Open up the tube and it smells overwhelmingly of pure rich chocolate. So, I take a sharp knife and shave off a very small bit. It looks pale yellow, like butter or beeswax, and has the consistency of shaved truffles or candles. It tastes.... like dried fat, with a very nice aroma of chocolate. I had no idea what to do with this stuff....
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Ghirardelli's 100% Cacau Chocolate ($2.19).
heh, i actually used to like ghirardelli. but then i realized it was just fancy packaging.
It looks pale yellow, like butter or beeswax, and has the consistency of shaved truffles or candles. It tastes.... like dried fat, with a very nice aroma of chocolate. I had no idea what to do with this stuff....
lol!
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lol have any dry skin or stretch marks? :P
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chocolate in general :p
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Chera, I'm finding your chocolate guides very helpful! My mom really loves pure dark choclate, specifically the regular hershey's kind. Do you have any suggestions for a more gormet (for lack of better word) form of that? Just to use as a fun stocking stuffer maybe :D
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My mom really loves pure dark choclate, specifically the regular hershey's kind. Do you have any suggestions for a more gormet (for lack of better word) form of that?
Do you mean sweetened dark chocolate or 100% pure unsweetened dark chocolate?
My favorite sweetened dark chocolate is Lindt Excellence 85%. Rich, complex, smooth, the faintest bit of sweetness, and not sour at all.
There are a broad range of 100% pure chocolate tastes - some I like, some I can't bear. It's a risky idiosyncratic thing. My favorite so far is Luker, but that wouldn't make a very nice gift.
For nice looking gifts, the Scharffen Berger gifts page (http://www.scharffenberger.com/products.asp?dept=1) has some neat looking stuff. I haven't received my order yet so I can't make any recommendations. But the 48 piece gift box of 62% and 70% cacao costs $27.50 and looks really nice.
There are probably brands that are more gourmet than that, but I don't like mail ordering chocolate and prefer buying stuff that I can find around home.
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Do you mean sweetened dark chocolate or 100% pure unsweetened dark chocolate?
My favorite sweetened dark chocolate is Lindt Excellence 85%. Rich, complex, smooth, the faintest bit of sweetness, and not sour at all.
^ Actually that one sounds perfect! I don't like to have to mail order food either, so it seems like I should be able to find that around. Thanks a lot for the advice :heart:
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Just got a bar of Swiss Alps Premium Chocolate Dark with Hazelnuts. Not bad, but too sweet. You can tell it's dark chocolate, but the chocolatiness isn't nearly as strong as the Lindt 85%. It's quite soft and smooth. The hazelnuts are yummy. It's 21% sugar and 18% hazelnuts, but for some reason it tastes sweeter than a conventional 21%-sugar/79%-cacao chocolate.
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i just came by vere chocolates: www.veregoods.com (http://www.veregoods.com/index.php)
(http://www.veregoods.com/images/products/product021xlg.jpg)
mint chocolate brownies coated in 75% chocolate, mixed with cacao nibs. looks promising to me, i think i'll pick some up (keep some as omiyage for when i go to japan!)
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^ god, those sound amazing....
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i found Lindt at the gas station down the street was surpised :D
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Today I tried some Chocolat-Menier, this yellow bar with an old-style label that looks like it hasn't changed for the past 150 years. What is this stuff? The label says "Established 1816. Medailles Diplomes D'Honneur: Paris 1849 Or, Londres 1862 H.C., Paris 1889 Gd Prix, Philadelphie 1876 Or, Paris 1867 Hors Concours, Paris Grand Prix 1878, Paris 1900 Grand Prix. Sweet Chocolate, with added emulsifier and vanillin, an artificial flavoring." Quite impressive and old-school.
A 227g bar costs $2.19 at the local Met supermarket. 28g contains 6g fat (giving it a 21% cocoa butter content - compared to most other eating chocolates at 55-60%) and 22g sugar. No milk.
I took a bit out of a finger of chocolate and was revolted. This stuff had crystals of sugar embedded all throughout it! How could people eat this stuff? It was like that Sol brand chocolate that I hated so much.
Then I read the fine print in the back. Apparently, this stuff is supposed to be used to make hot coco. Its not supposed to be eaten. So, I give it a try in the microwave: 1 finger + 1 glass of lactose-free milk.
The result is weird. The stuff doesn't dissolve very well, but results in a blob of semi-melted chocolate at the bottom of the glass. I stir vigorously, and stir, and stir, and stir,..... The stuff never completely dissolves. You can still see a thin layer of dark granules of chocolate floating on the top, despite the emulsifier. The body had this light brown mocha color. So I give it a try.
This stuff isn't bad! It has a raw taste to it, quite different from coco made from powder or syrup. It doesn't have the "beaniness" of Luker. Not bitter, but it certainly was chocolate. It's a tad bit too sweet for my taste, but it is much better than most commercial coco mixes. I'll save this for cold winter nights when I want something warm and soothing but also raw and authentic.
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CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE I <3 CHOCOLATE XD
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hersheys krackel and mr. goodbar for me!
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I got a bar of GODIVA Chocolatier Solid Dark Chocolate from the Barnes and Noble bookstore and was disappointed. 43g contains 46% sugar, so the cacao content is pretty low. It tastes extremely sweet. You taste the sugar, not the chocolate. 10 minutes after finishing it, you still taste the sweetness. Don't bother with this crap.
Yesterday, I was a bit adventerous and made a Quintuple Banana Malt Milkshake. Ingredients:
1 finger of Chocolat-Menier sweetened chocolate (for the sweetness)
1 tablespoon of Luker 100% coco powder (for the complex bitterness)
1 chunk of Luker 100% chocolate (for the nuttiness and creaminess)
1 tablespoon of Ovaltine sweetened chocolate malt (for the sweetness and malty smoothness)
1 banana (for the smoothness)
1.5 glasses of Lactaid fat free milk (for the lactase and the slight sweetness of cleaved lactose)
Shavings of Cococare 100% cocoa butter (for the creaminess)
Blend everything except the cocoa butter in a blender until nice and airy. Then add the cocoa butter shavings on top. Serve with a smile. Yummmmmmm!!!!!!
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Well i like all chocolate but i think i lean slightly towards Dark on the whole although my fav is galaxy.
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Students had a bake sale at school today. One of them came around with "leftovers" and so I got to nosh on some of THE best homemade chocolate fudge I've had in a loooooooooooooong time. (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c340/J-F-C/buttrock.gif)
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I hate almost all chocolate but chocolate milk. The candy/cake/fudge has just never tasted that great to me. :confused:
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i felt milk chocolate is too sweet everyday eat that one will get diabetes very soon XD so i prefer dark chocolate which i think the taste is much more better!!!
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Here's an interesting read about some overpriced chocolate:
http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=78
This really opened my eyes to the world of gourmet chocolates.
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I got chocolate goodies for Christmas. Standard chocolate coins (good), Aero Bubbles (lovely) and After Eight (zomg)
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I love chocolate, especially milk chocolate. White chocolate is ok but I don't like dark chocolate. I don't eat chocolate all the time because it's like coke, you eat it when you have the mood.
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i must realli thank dark chocolate during my exam period >< i remember munching them to stay awake to revise through my stack and stack of notes lol:ONhiakhiakhiak: :ONhiakhiakhiak: :ONhiakhiakhiak:
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MILK choc of course !!
however I love to eat dark choc cake :P
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Hey... only 7 votes for white chocolate ... :( ... :)
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CHOCOLATE! i go for milk chocolate =] its been my favourite for a while and i could probly eat it more and wont get sick from it as much, but white and dark chocolate i normally eat a bit and it's easier for me to get sick of it. >.<
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If I eat chocolate it's milk chocolate. IMO Dark chocolate is too bitter and milk chocolate has 'softer' taste. Marabou and Fazerin sininen are very good.
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Here's an interesting read about some overpriced chocolate:
http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=78
Thanks for the link! Makes me want to go out and con some ignorant american consumers in paying absurd markups for well marketed products.
I'm currently munching on a Lindt Excellence Equador 75% Cocoa. It's sweeter than I usually like it, but the cocoa flavor is wonderfully intense. Got the faintest sourness to it, and it melts in your mouth differently from the Lindt 85%.
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Every kind of choclate is :heart:
I prefer dark chocolate though :)
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my vote's for Dark Chocolate... the sweetness from the bitterness of dark chocolate always makes me feel........ idk how to explain it lol.. but definitely Dark chocolate
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chocolate .... hmmm yummy ....
I like all chocolate .. LOL
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Where's the I like ALL chocolate option???
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I actually like all kinds of chocolate, but I'll have to say white chocolate is my favorite :)
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You know I actually don't eat alot of chocolate...or even dessert in general. :|
I do have quite a weakness for Reese's though.
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Chocolate is too sweet for me.
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Cocoa flavonols aid function of brain, some studies report
Ian MacDonald of England's University of Nottingham reported on tests given to young women who were asked to do a complex task while their brains were being studied with magnetic resonance imaging. Among the women given drinks of cocoa high in flavonols, there was a significant increase in blood flow to the brain compared with subjects who did not drink the cocoa, he said.
Norman Hollenberg of Harvard Medical School said he found similar health benefits in the Cuna Indian tribe in Panama. They drink cocoa exclusively.
But the cocoa typically sold in markets is low in flavonols, which usually are removed because they impart a bitter taste, Hollenberg said.
(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/16732194.htm)Score one for dark chocolate!
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^ Fuck yeah. :D
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As long as it doesn't have nuts on it. :heart: :heart:
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woooo!! go dark chocolate!!!
i heard that it boosts ur memory better than any other type of chocolate.. other than those 70% or above ones...
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dark chocolate is like the thinking person's chocolate innit. Kind of like the jazz of cocoa-based foodstuffs.
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I don't like chocolate. it make me sick
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i like white chocolate yumm
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i love chocolate.. every month sure buy at least a small bar.. just one time eat the white one.. nice but a bit expensive.. me so poor..