What's your "opinion" on chocolate? page

[Whatyoudoing]

Is it healthy? What's too much? I'm talking about the cacao, not any other ingredients

[janeen]

My opinion is that it's yummy.

[Dr. Bork Bork]

Chocolate is a health food. EAT SOME!
The darker the better.

if you can find it, try righteously raw brand

[Lewis]

Is it healthy? What's too much? I'm talking about the cacao, not any other ingredients

The raw cacao nibs?

I tend to buy the Lindt 99% dark chocolate myself. But the nibs, or any pretty dark chocolate is fine -- in moderation, of course, like anything else.

There are some pretty good anti-oxidants and other nutrients in there, but there are also some antinutrients, including oxalic acid. (There's also some stuff that might make you a little hyper.) AFAIK, the Aztecs used to make a kind of fermented drink from cacao. That would probably help deal with the antinutrients, and they probably did it because they knew from experience that drinking too much unfermented chocolate would make you sick, even though they didn't understand what they were doing in scientific terms.

A square or two of really good dark chocolate allowed to dissolve slowly in the mouth is as much as most people want -- if you chew it you don't taste it so much and tend to want more. At that sort of amount the sugar-content is negligible and won't spike your blood sugar.

Nibs? I dunno. I guess a tablespoon or so would be fine.


There's more detailed information here:

Examining the Properties of Chocolate and Cacao for Health

[KV8R]

I make the bark recipe that's been floating around here. I mix 1 bar of 76% with 1 bar of 90%. Add macadamia nuts and dried berries, and a tough of sea salt. Awesome. I do this about 1-2 times a month, it lasts around a week each time.

[paleo-bunny]

Raw cocoa powder or nibs get my vote. That way you can avoid the ubiquitious soy lethicin and similar shite additives.

I mix raw cocoa powder into natural yoghurt and eat with honey, banana and pineapple.

[Dr. Bork Bork]

Yesterday I packed cacao nibs in a baggie with some dates. It was like eating a three musketeers, ala deliciousness. Sweet, dark mmmm. Cheapest way to get cacao nibs is by buying a bag of crio bru. It's an entire bag of roasted, ground up nibs. Best cacao nibs I've had, though, were the occumare from Amano. Expensive though.

[paleo-bunny]

Mmmm dates are awesome, especially mejool dates.

[DeeDub]

Wires me up like coffee. Personally, I avoid it.

[Owly]

I love it and think it's fine in moderate amounts. I like making hot chocolate with cocoa powder, coconut milk, hot water, raw honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and just a touch of chili powder. I also love good quality dark chocolate (usually 90% or more) and usually have some in the house, but I don't eat it in large quantities. As was said above, the darker the chocolate, the faster it kills my chocolate craving.