If you’re looking for something delicious to treat yourself to after a long day, there’s nothing better than taking a bite out of a decadent piece of chocolate. Of course, it cannot just be any chocolate, if you are to treat yourself, you want to have the best right?
That’s why you need to know how to find the best chocolate in the US. There are some who prefer chocolates that are sweet, but there are others who still want to eat healthy even while treating themselves.
Vegans, for example, can depend on Santa Barbara Chocolate to get their fill, while others turn to dark chocolate as it has many health benefits. Here are some tips you can follow in order to get the best chocolate in the market.
- Expect that you will pay a higher price than normal – First, you must be prepared to pay more for higher quality chocolate, especially if you compare it to those you often see in the supermarkets that are mass-produced. You might expect to pay two, three or even four times more than usual. But you also need to discern properly. Don’t just look at the fancy packaging or the pretty designs, because that does not mean that they are of higher quality than others. Read on to find out how else you can know if the chocolate you are buying is the best.
- Read the label – One thing that you can look at is the label. You should see that most of the ingredients are of cocoa byproducts, namely cocoa butter and cocoa solids. If you are going for dark chocolate, there are even times it will just have less than five ingredients. If you see too many ingredients, think twice as you are not really eating a lot of chocolate but just too many ingredients.
- Make sure that it has been made recently – When we buy ingredients in the market, we don’t look for wilted vegetables, or the canned goods that are almost expired, we want the freshest ingredients right? The same is true when you are buying chocolate. Don’t just look at the ingredients, but also the date they were manufactured. Make sure to purchase the ones that are more recently made.
- Ensure that it has not undergone “dutching” – If you are also looking for chocolate that has health benefits, avoid those that have undergone the process of dutching. The dutching process involves alkalization, which is used to change the color of the chocolate and to also make it less bitter. This will result in the reduction of the anti-oxidants in the chocolate.
- Check how it smells, looks and sounds – One last thing you can do is to use your senses. Smell if the chocolate, and check for a strong aroma. Also, glossy chocolate is also higher quality chocolate. Lastly, when you break the chocolate in half, it will produce a clear, snapping sound and the break should be clean and straight.
