My family and I don’t tend to eat much chocolate for the simple reason that caffeine is so incredibly addictive and who needs more strain on already stressed out adrenals in this crazy day and age?
When we go out to a movie as a family, however, I usually make an exception and pick up a bit of quality chocolate for us to nibble and enjoy during the show.
Have any of you noticed that good quality chocolate is getting increasingly hard to find these days?
My husband and I first started to notice that American chocolate was going to the dogs about 20 years ago. Upscale American chocolates like Russell Stover, Godiva and others started to add artificial ingredients and cheapened the quality of the chocolate with milk powder, vegetable oil instead of cocoa butter and even artificial flavors!
To avoid these cheap imitation chocolates, we started to buy chocolate only at a small British shop where we could procure European chocolates like Cadbury’s (only made in the UK – the USA Cadbury’s was bad quality), Lindt and others.
Now it seems the European chocolates have followed suit and gone downhill in quality as well. At our recent family movie outing just last week, my husband could not find a single brand of European chocolate at our local Fresh Market that was free of additives, artificial flavors or rancid vegetable oils.
It seems our only choice for decent chocolate now is at the health food store. Organic brands have so far held the line on cheapening their product. Starbucks used to have quality chocolate as well but I haven’t checked the ingredients list there in a while as I don’t drink coffee and so don’t shop there very often if ever.
I’ve found that even if a brand is ok one day, it might not be the next so frequent checking and rechecking of ingredient labels is necessary to ensure that quality is still intact.
What chocolate brands are you using these days? If you have discovered a brand that is free of garbage ingredients and doesn’t include soya lecithin, please post about it in the comments section.
Since I only eat chocolate now and then, I insist that my chocolate experience be a quality one!
I was thinking the same thing in regards to Chocolate. The brands you mentioned you expect to be of a better quality but it is as bad as eating a Hershey’s bar! I remember a few years ago back in New Zealand there was talk of Cadbury removing Cocoa butter. Not only did they do that but also they made their packaging smaller and keept charging the same price. It is a real shame. It is truly very difficult to find a good chocolate, it may look like it has all good ingredients and then you see ‘soy lechtin’ and all I want to is scream in disgust. And of course my husband loves chocolate so I will buy the stuff in the store and I don’t want to be mean so I just eat. I also don’t think he gets how bad soy really is. I think making your own chocolate is just the way to go.
Michel Cluizel is my overall favorite chocolate maker. Check out the following bars: Maralumi, Mangaro, Maralumi Lait, Vila Gracinda, Noir 72%, Mangaro Lait and Los Ancones. Other bars to check out: Patric Madagascar 67%(unique flavor, for the adventurous), Amano Dos Rios, Original Bean Cru Virunga, Fresco 212, Original Bean Beni Wild Harvest, and Dick Taylor Belize Toledo. Good luck!
I recently had some amazing chocolate from Ecuador! I loved the chile chocolate and salt chocolate, oh oh and the espresso chocolate! Delicious! I love the idea of taking some to the movies to avoid the junky and OVERPRICED options at the theater. So true, and I totally agree with you on all of the above! -Daniella
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We’re all for it.He has been sick for three weeks.My treat.I supposed him to be very clever but he was in fact a fool.Example is better than precept.We are all taking medicine against the disease.The train arrived on time.How do you like our English literature Prof.The Smiths are my neighbors.How much cloth does it take to make a skirt for the girl?
I’ve been looking for real chocolate that is not only organic and free of additives, artificial flavors, vegetable oils, and soy lecithin but also free of processed sugar including organic sugar. My friend just introduced me to Gnosis chocolate and I think I may have found a winner!
Note: Some of their products do have agave nectar in them and those ones I’ll be staying away from. There is an article on the page explaining why they still choose to put agave nectar in some of their products. With most of the products that I want from them though being agave nectar free it’s still the best chocolate I’ve been able to find.
I had the chance to sample these bars when I was in Britain last month. The Hotel Chocolat Purist line has literally no other ingredients except for conched cacao. Even the 100% cacao bar was smooth, mellow and hardly bitter at all. Excellent, excellent chocolate.
hmm, thanks, Pat, you might be onto something regarding going to ethnic shops. Great idea.
Well, speaking of Germany – I lived there for 10 years and I know Aldi. It is one of the worst supermarket chains there and one where I have never went for shopping for exception of Haribos or toilet paper. I don’t trust Aldi quite honestly as the Aldi brothers’ business ethics have been and are questioned. Lidl has a lot better choices often, in my opinion. And there is an Aldi not far from where I live. By the way, these discounters add additives to chocolates. Read on the back next time, you’ll be surprised.
The thing with European foods in America is that they are produced here, including Lindt and Lindt in America is a totally different thing then if you buy it in Germany or Switzerland. They add chemicals and additives and I didn’t know because I read the back last time when I was in Europe and then one day the surprise came. But, if I order things on Internet or search very well and ask around, I can find plain foods here, but it’s a lot bigger hassle then in Europe.
Hi,
did you try Aldi? Aldi is a German company, here in Germany it offers quality chocolate for a low price (dark chocolate, milk chocolate). Aldi is also in Florida,
http://aldi.us/index_ENU_HTML.htm.
Bye Pat
Well, since I moved to USA I quit eating and drinking several things. For instance – chocolate, bread and flour products; beer and wine. Reason is as you said in your posts – it’s all trash. No surprise everybody is fat and ugly here. I live in New York City and even here I need to sweep Manhattan’s affluent neighborhoods to get quality food. Wow, did I just say that? Yes, TO GET FREAKING SOMETHING TO EAT.
All German and Swiss chocolates I enjoyed in Europe are produced for the US market in USA. Result is a totally different taste because of all the chemicals. Beer is totally undrinkable. So totally off… The first thing I will do when visiting Germany is to get REALLY DRUNK. LOL I will in fact be drunk all the time. And I will eat bread. Something I do here maybe once in three months.
I do not eat bread because all flour is enriched. I didn’t know that such a thing actually exists on this planet – enriched pastas and flours. I needed to google to understand what that means. Yeah, and enriched rice. Really sick stuff. I read that enriched flour is to get the bread better looking and tasting. Well, it looks good, but tastes like plastic, even freshly baked. My bread substitute is pancakes from unenriched unbleached organic flour from Whole Foods. One thing I still haven’t found is bleached unenriched flour. So this means one thing – in 6 months I have eaten not a single cake nor baked one.
Maybe you can try Basmati Rice, originally imported from India, normally this rice is not enriched. Go to an Indian shop.