Over the last five years, the amount of chocolate I eat has been decreasing. Yet I actually enjoy chocolate more than ever. Here’s my thoughts, shared in the hope that they can improve your quality of life slightly, as well as help you to enjoy chocolate more…
Five and a half years ago, I gave half of my chocolate to my brother at Easter. I didn’t want it, I didn’t like the sick feeling from eating loads of it – I had good self-control at not opening a bar, not taking the first bite, but as soon as I had, I couldn’t stop myself from finishing it off. I’m far from unique in this, I think most (if not all) people would say they could improve their self-control.
Another Easter, having eaten some of the chocolate I had been given (which wasn’t much by most people’s standards, but was a lot for me) I went out for a run, sickened by how much I had, and ran the furthest I had ever run (at that time).
This birthday, I asked for some chocolate which was 99% cocoa – I had read about it and wanted to try it out.
Over the last five years (or longer), I’ve been always trying to be healthier. Quite a few people know me for it, though I don’t always notice it myself as I can always see where I can improve! As I’ve been eating better and removing “unhealthy” things from my diet, my tastes have changed, and with less added sugar everything else tastes better: it’s as if somebody has turned up a dial on all flavours. Bananas taste more like banana, bacon is a better flavour than ever before, etc. In this way, eating healthily has been worth it for its own virtue – regardless of the other benefits (energy, longer-term health), everything tastes better!
As part of this, I’ve been changing the chocolate I eat – chocolate is still really good, but I eat darker and darker chocolate. I haven’t had milk chocolate (in any significant way) for a couple of years – when I started university I used to buy tesco’s 70% dark with orange bits in, which was great. Milk chocolate is too sweet for me, and dark has a much better taste I can appreciate.
But the trend continued, and now the 70% chocolate tastes too sweet, like milk chocolate used to. (70% means it is 70% cocoa solids, though this can either be cocoa mass or cocoa butter, so still varies in quality. The remaining 30% is almost entirely sugar, with a bit extra. So milk chocolate, about 40%, is actually sugar flavoured with chocolate, instead of chocolate enhanced with sugar).
When I got the 99% chocolate for my birthday, I would have a little bit each day. The first four days it tasted horrible – really bitter and I pulled a face – but on the fifth day, I actually had a second bit. On the sixth day, I ate half the bar. And this chocolate tasted better than any of the chocolate I’d been eating before.
Now I’m eating 85% chocolate (which I can eat 50g in one go of, though normally limit to 30) and higher stuff when I find it (which I eat less of in one go). I’ve also found that Lindt, despite their masquerades, are quite poor chocolate. Both Sainsbury’s and Cooperative have better 85% chocolate than Lindt. Hotel Chocolat is very good, as is whatever company made the 99% stuff I got online. Lindt is not as good.
There’s a couple of benefits to dark chocolate. Primarily, better taste, which is what we’re after. Secondly, it’s healthier, both because it’s more natural and less sugar and because you eat less of it. Also, the less-healthy milk chocolate will be less appealing. I would recommend persevering with dark chocolate to anyone.
PS: Best way I’ve found of eating chocolate is to break off a small bit, thumbnail size or so, and let it melt on your tongue. If you can resist the temptation to scoff it, you get a much better taste because of it.