James Rowe: It's often said that dark chocolate is good for you. But how true is that? And which bar is best?
Hello, I'm James Rowe and welcome to Which? Shorts, your free weekly insight into Which? Magazine, as well as our money, tech, travel, and gardening titles too. Today I'm bringing you a piece that our food, health, and well-being editor, Sarah Joan Ross, edited for the August issue of Which? Magazine, all about dark chocolate. People may tell you that dark chocolate is good for you, especially in comparison to milk chocolate. Here we reveal what the science actually says and explain how much truth there is behind the claim. Plus, we put together an expert panel to blind taste test 12 dark chocolate bars available in the supermarket to help you decide which one is worth your money. Here's the piece, adapted for the podcast, this week read by Kat Cereda.
Kat Cereda: While it's true that dark chocolate wins points simply for having less sugar than its milky counterpart, the real difference is in the levels of cocoa solids. These cocoa solids contain something called polyphenols, specifically flavanols, which have been shown to improve blood flow, lower blood pressure, and may support the gut microbiome. Flavanols contribute to that bitter taste, so you might expect an 85% cocoa chocolate bar to contain more flavanols than a 70% bar. However, testing has shown that this isn't always the case. That's because flavanols are fragile and can be destroyed during processing. But if a chocolate bar is labeled as raw or the packaging mentions roasting at low temperatures, a higher level of flavanols will be preserved. Although a chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa is likely to contain less sugar, it will still be high in fat and saturated fat. Chocolate shouldn't be your only source of flavanols. Other foods high in flavanols include green and black tea, blackberries, blueberries, apples with their skin, and red grapes.
So how do different dark chocolate bars stack up? To find out, we invited four chocolate experts for a blind taste test to help us track down the tastiest bars. Our experts included Gabriella Cugno, an award-winning chocolatier, Jennifer Earle, a food industry consultant and chocolate specialist, Aneesh Popat, founder and director of chocolate company The Chocolatier, and Dom Ramsey, a chocolate maker, consultant, development chef, and writer.
Our experts were given squares of 12 different premium supermarket own-label and widely available big-brand chocolate bars, with each expert sampling them in a different order. We assessed taste, aroma, appearance, and texture for a rounded view, and all products were blind taste tested, meaning the panelists didn't know which bar they were trying. What's more, they were given a blindfold so they couldn't be swayed by any designs, logos, or branding on the chocolate when scoring them.
The results? Well, the panelists were less than impressed by the category overall, with several commenting that the quality of supermarket dark chocolate appears to have declined in recent years. They thought this could be linked to the spike in cocoa prices two to three years ago, which may have forced some brands to buy lower-quality cocoa beans.
Take Lindt's Excellence Intense Dark 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate. Despite the name, this thin bar from Lindt lacked an intense flavor or a pleasing chocolaty smell. It was shiny with a good snap, but overall, our experts found it a bit bland.
For Green & Black's Organic Intense 70% Cocoa Bar, one of our experts liked the rich, chocolaty smell. However, it didn't have much of a chocolaty flavor and was described as quite ordinary in taste.
Another branded bar was Tony's Chocolonely 70% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate. Known for its chunky chocolate blocks, this was the biggest bar on test, twice the size of our best buy. It was described as very dark in color with a basic cocoa flavor.
Want to know which bar came out on top? Well, Which? members can find it in our magazine and online. If you're not a member, why not grab 50% off your first year's membership, a special offer for podcast listeners. Click the link in the show notes or go to which.co.uk/podcastoffer.
Among the own-brand bars on test was Co-op's Irresistible Chocolate for Change 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate. It's an appealing bar with an interesting plum and stone fruit taste. The chocolate was slightly bitter, but was praised for its shiny appearance and satisfying snap.
While M&S's Ecuadorian Cocoa Dark Chocolate was, along with Tesco, one of two 75% cocoa bars on test, the latter had notes of banana and bitter cacao, and our panel thought it had a very pungent and unpleasant aftertaste.
With many disappointing dark chocolates on the market, what should you look for when buying chocolate? Firstly, check the label. Not all highly ethical brands fork out to put Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance logos on their wrappers. Our experts suggest looking for brands that name a cocoa farm, farmer, or cooperative, as it may indicate greater traceability and transparency about where the cocoa comes from.
When you get home, forget the fridge. Don't store your chocolate in there – it will lose some of its sweetness and flavor. Instead, store it at room temperature, around 16 to 20°C in a tightly sealed, airtight container.
And finally, if you see white streaks on the chocolate surface, it usually indicates that it hasn't been stored at the correct temperature. The bar should still be okay to eat, but it just won't taste its best.
James RoweThanks for listening to this podcast from Which?, the UK's consumer champion. You can find plenty more advice about what we discussed today in the show notes. There you'll also find a link to become a Which? member for 50% off the usual price, an offer exclusively available to you, our podcast listeners. Joining Which? will not only give you access to all of our product reviews, our app, one-to-one personalized buying advice, and every issue of Which? Magazine across the year, but you'll also be helping us to make life simpler, fairer, and safer for everyone. Don't forget to hit subscribe wherever you're listening, that way you'll be notified whenever we release a new episode of Which? Money, Which? Shorts, or another podcast that we make for you. And if you want to get in touch with us, then follow us on social media, where we're @WhichUK, or you can drop us an email to podcasts@which.co.uk. See you next time.
