Some of the most beautiful ads...Please rank!

Whether you like chocolate or not, you'd probably be impressed by the aesthetics of some of the chocolates-pages on the web. For example, click on the banner at the top of this page to see an amazing display of chocolate finery.

Whether it's cans of cocoa or the most elegant truffles, chocolate sites have gone far to give the visitor a 'sample'. ("If it looks this good, what must it taste like?")

Several sites advertise right here in my Good Chocolate space, courtesy of Google. So it's easy to see their spreads and feast your eyes, down there on the left.

It's also fascinating to see what types of ingredients chocolatiers add to the basic ingredients of cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa....

My favorite is chili peppers. Maybe that's because I live in Tucson and appreciate the history behind the fantastic turkey accompaniment, mole poblano. Haven't tried it? It will NOT remind you of fudge brownies! I'll include a site and recipe here under its own title shortly.

We've all got favorite sites, aesthetically speaking. So score some of these sites against your favorite, on a scale of 1 to 5, with your favorite being, say, a 3. Use Comments to post your impressions.

You might also like to post a Comment about what music your favorite chocolate sounds like that. More on that another day. PL

A few more bars for the big test....

So far we are testing just DARK chocolate. It's supposed to be healthier, and from what I read (see below), that's true. So I've added a few selections to the big taste-and-satisfaction test. They are:

Lake Champlain Dark Chocolate
Yamate Chocolatier Dark Sugar Free (with maltitol for a sweetener)
Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa

Let me know what you think. The instructions for the test are in an earlier message. It's best if you do this 'blind' -- you don't know which one is which.

I'd love to hear what you find. Meanwhile my committee of willing participants (daughters and the like) will be subjected to this new selection along with some of the ones we did before for calibration.

PL

An experiment in chocolate -- want to participate?

I have been conducting an informal experiment in chocolate tasting. Right now I have focused on various 'gourmet' brands of dark chocolate (though some are not necessarily making the grade of 'gourmet' at this point).

The brands are Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate, Droste Pastilles Bittersweet, Cote d'Or Noir de Noir, Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate for Baking and Eating, and a bar that contained no sugar (sweetened by maltitol).

So far 4 people have participated. I don't want to share what they favored yet, because I'd like some more participants and I don't want to prejudice the choices.

Here's how the experiment is done. Cut off a small pc (about 3/4 inch by 1/2 inch) of each of the chocolates, and arrange them on a plate. You don't want to know which is which, so put the pcs upside down and 'shuffle' them, or have someone else lay them out for you.

Then create the questionnaire. You want to record the following info for each pc:

Immediate Impression: Tasty? Smooth? Creamy? Chocolatey? Satisfying?
After 15 seconds: Tasty? Smooth? Creamy? Chocolatey? Satisfying?
After 2 minutes: Aftertaste (good or bad)? Satisfied? Want more? Ever eat again?
Comments on the experience.

When we did it, we laid them out and numbered them 1 through 5 so as not to be prejudiced by the name (or cost!). Answers were typically 'yes', 'no', 'somewhat', and then some occasional input like 'bitter', 'yuck', 'terrible', 'okay', and 'yum'.

That was for the short answers. The comments had a lot more to say.

I will publish the results as soon as I have enough. If you want to do this and want more detailed explanation as to how, leave a comment here and I'll get back to you. When you do the experiment, leave your results as comments here, or write to me directly: azpeg@mindspring.com.

Later on I'll do one with milk chocolate, though where I'm really going with this is to find a dark chocolate that is very satisfying, so it can be eaten as a snack in the late afternoon during 'munchies' time, where one piece will do. That means few calories, a small amount of sugar, and high satisfaction.

(The alternative might be a Snickers with lots of calories, tons of sugar, and only moderate satisfaction. For a full discussion of the role of sugar in hunger, see another blog of mine, http://healthfrontier.blogspot.com.)

Feedback on this whole idea, and the health concepts behind is, is welcome. PL

A chocolate snack for weight loss -- FREE SAMPLE

I've written about this product before (see below), but back then they didn't have this FREE SAMPLE!

I have a hunch that a bite of good dark chocolate during afternoon 'munchies' time will turn out to be a good way to lose weight. But I'm not sure yet: good dark chocolate has excellent fats in it, ones that clean out the blood vessels. BUT these fats still have calories.

That's why I was pleased to find a snack that is intensely chocolate-tasting with low fat and low carbs, but not artificially sweetened. Find out more about it here: http://www.shaklee.net/feelinggood/product/20385.

They have this product at 20% off at the moment.

To get the FREE SAMPLE you leave a message in the 'contact me' area of this site.

In addition to chocolate, these snacks have the amino acid taurine to stimulate energy release from the cells, as well as satisfying cravings for sweets and chocolate. And two of them -- one serving -- have about half the calcium you need each day.

When you get your free sample, let me know how you like them. I like them a lot. PL

Look what the fat in chocolate does, says Yale-New Haven Hospital

Here's a link to an great article on the health benefits of chocolate. Specifically, it addresses the impact of the fats in good, dark chocolate on arterial health and LDL (see below).

http://www.ynhh.org/online/nutrition/advisor/chocolate.html

"Chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is high in saturated fat, yet one-third of chocolate's fat comes from stearic acid. Although it's a saturated fat, stearic acid does not raise LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) as do most other saturated fats. Stearic acid is converted in the liver to oleic acid, a heart-healthy, monounsaturated fat.

"Another one-third of chocolate's total fat comes from oleic acid itself. In a recent study, volunteers followed a diet with the majority of their fat calories coming from either chocolate or from butter. The volunteers who consumed chocolate fat did not show an increase in their cholesterol levels, but those who ate butterfat developed elevated LDL cholesterol levels."

The question in my mind is, if I eat chocolate, will I eat less butter? If so, my LDL should go down...

The article goes on to say that regular chocolate from commercial candy bars contains only about 20% cocoa butter, not enough to give the effect. On the other hand, good quality dark chocolate with 70% cocoa butter content will contain enough of the good chemicals to have beneficial effects.

I recommend reading the entire article -- it contains many important details. PL

Chocolate makes a good gift

I like to receive GOOD CHOCOLATE as a gift, don't you?

The best place I've found to shop for good chocolate is here: Christmas Boutique

Just in time for the web-based shopping I like to do. Cool find!

Where else have you found to shop for good chocolate? Please let me know by commenting here. PL

OR Make Your Own....

I think nothing of making dinner every night, including some pretty elaborate recipes from time to time.

But the thought of making my own elegant chocolate has never entered my head....at least until now. This book makes it all possible. I love the section on ingredients, such as the difference in the various kinds of chocolate. Here, check it out. And let me know your successes. These are chocolates worthy of gift-giving as well as holiday exchanges. What's your favorite? PL

In pursuit of the perfect cup of hot chocolate

Living in Tucson, where even a few flakes of snow make the 6 p.m. news, doesn't mean I've forgotten the glories of shoveling snow (mixed with fort-building and snowball fights), followed by a cup of hot chocolate.

The mystique of a cup of hot chocolate is partially due to the timely ministrations of Mother, but also to that magic that is due to the essential ingredient, chocolate.

Here's how we used to make it: We'd mix equal parts sugar and cocoa (Hershey's, in the dark-brown can). We'd use half the per-cup amount of cocoa recommended on the can, because Mother said they told us to use so much just to sell more cocoa, and we didn't need it...

This mixture, enough for a whole potful, was made in a mug. Milk (whole milk only, in those days) heated on the stove till it was steaming. Then a small amount of it was poured into the cup with the mixture in it, and the whole was returned to the pan for a few more moments of heating.

Then it was served, with marshmallows of course.

That's just about as simple a list of ingredients as there can be for hot chocolate: cocoa, sugar, and milk. But there are thousands of variations out there, and I'd like to find out your favorites. PLEASE tell me your hot chocolate recollections and recipes right here as a comment to this post.

Thanks! Now that it's winter, I'll experiment with some new ones myself, and let you know what I find. I'm dreaming of one right now with coconut milk in it....Never heard of such a thing back in CT, but.... Well, wait and see! Don't forget to comment with your recipe!

Wait a minute! I just found this cookbook at Amazon. It's rated at 5-stars by all the reviewers! And it's hard to find -- it's out of print. But there are some used copies.... all in the pursuit of the best cup of hot chocolate of course.

I also found this canister of Godiva cocoa. Might as well start with the best ingredients: It's also 5-star rated.

PL

Chocolate as a weight-loss aid?

"Chocolate may be used by some as a form of self-medication for dietary deficiencies (eg, magnesium) or to balance low levels of neurotransmitters involved in the regulation of mood, food intake, and compulsive behaviors (eg, serotonin and dopamine)."

This quote is from the abstract of a paper by K Bruinsma and DL Teran from the Arizona Prevention Center in 1999.

In other words, chocolate might help us feel good just as serious snacking can.

Here's the connection between chocolate and dieting: if chocolate can 'fix' low levels of neurotransmitters as food can, then perhaps a small piece of chocolate during times when food seems irresistible might satisfy the craving, and with fewer calories.

At least I think it's worth the experiment!

At least according to my experience -- which is considerable -- the right chocolate can be intensely satisfying, more so than, say, a single chip or cookie. So maybe this (crazy) idea isn't so crazy after all.

One nutrition company seems to agree with me. They have a product that is intensely chocolate-y and supposed to take away cravings for chocolate as well as other sweets. I tried it and it actually worked for me! I ate a couple of the bites every afternoon when I was feeling droopy. I started to fall in love with them, and was afraid I was getting addicted.

And then all at once I didn't want them or chocolate any more! (Not, of course, that there's really anything wrong with chocolate....).

Here's where you can get some if you want to try them. I wouldn't expect miracles the first day as far as cravings go, but I did experience the same satisfaction as I would have with a whole chocolate bar, and each bite has only a few calories. Anyway, check out this link: http://www.shaklee.net/feelinggood/product/20385.

While I was there picking up the link, I found they have it on sale right now for 20% off. So it's a good time to check it out. As you will see, it's part of their weight management program, which is pretty surprising: it doesn't taste like those horrible brown cubes that used to pass for chocolate diet snacks.

And by the way, I just read that the bites also have half the DV of calcium. That's handy.

OK, check it out: http://www.shaklee.net/feelinggood/product/20385. And if you try them, write a review here at Good Chocolate. I'd like to know what you thought. PL