Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate is a chocolate that is made without the ingredient milk. Dark chocolate is a chocolate that is used for recipe and dessert cooking as well as being an enjoyable form of bar chocolate. Dark chocolate has more cocoa butter than other chocolate types and is easier to work with in terms of recipes and dessert making. Dark chocolates can be categorized as semi-sweet and bitter sweet chocolate. These distinctions do not include morsels used for baking cookies, as those morsels were designed for a different purpose and do not cook the same way as typical dark chocolate. The slight difference between semi sweet chocolate and bitter sweet chocolate is the sugar content in semi sweet chocolate is slightly higher than bittersweet chocolate. Super dark chocolate is a chocolate that has 50 to 90% cocoa as an ingredient. The human palette is unable to fully appreciate that large of a chocolate content usually, but added as an extra zing to a recipe, as a glaze or dip or other accent, but not as an actual piece of chocolate to be eaten, or as a main ingredient for a cake recipe.

There are some studies that suggest that potential health benefits of dark chocolate had been unknown until recently. Some researchers think that dark chocolate may be categorized as one of the more cardio positive foods, as are other tree born fruits and plant sources of nutrition that are recommended for a healthy diet. The research indicates that flavinoids (a plant derived chemical that reduces cholesterol and helps to keep arteries free from clogs by its action within the body), a chemical found in certain foods and fruits, is beneficial for the continued long health of a person. While large amounts of dark chocolate are not recommended due to the caloric count of chocolate.

It is also said that dark chocolate lowers mild cases of high blood pressure. Dark chocolates possess antioxidants, and antioxidants combat the destructive elements inside a person's body that are evident in heart disease and other cardio ailments. Dark chocolate is chosen over milk chocolate because milk is thought to interfere with the absorption of the problematic microbes contributing to heart conditions. It is also suggested that persons eating dark chocolate do not eat the chocolate and then wash it down with milk. Blood levels of anti oxidants have been measured and those without the milk consumption had higher levels of antioxidants in their bloodstreams than those who drank milk. For those with mild high blood pressure problems, studies suggest that eating a small amount of chocolate during the week reduced blood pressure, whereas persons eating milk chocolate had no change.