What kind of dark chocolate is best for you

Discounted at Amazon. Organic, vegan, paleo, non-GMO, house ground dark chocolate. No dairy, soy lecithin, gluten, cane sugar, sugar alcohols, or emulsifiers.

Range of dark chocolate. Taza is probably the least-processed chocolate you can find. There are no genetically modified ingredients. One, gram bar is calories. Ingredients are just Cocoa beans, erythritol, cocoa butter, mesquite powder fiber , stevia, and vanilla.

All the ingredients are organic. NOTE : Each bar has a different ingredients list — and these change all the time. Based in Seattle, WA. A very simple ingredients list with no emulsifier. They have bars as well as small squares. Uses Soy Lecithin as an emulsifier. This French chocolate is distributed in the USA but can be difficult to find.

A German-made chocolate made for the Aldi stores. Uses Soy Lecithin emulsifier. US chocolate company owned by a subsidiary of Hershey. Available at Amazon. Organic, fair trade, dark chocolate. It uses Fair Trade chocolate and is not processed with Alkali. A good choice if you are following a low-carb or keto diet. These squares have been developed for the diet market specifically low-carb or keto diets. Monk Fruit extract is used as a sweetener, and fiber has been added soluble corn fiber.

Ingredients: Chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla beans. The more cacao the bar has, the stronger the bar is. Several of the healthy brands offer really strong dark chocolate bars. There are numerous dark chocolate makers, and their products are often available in a few outlets or very localized. Better yet, choose one that lists sugar last. Note that the higher the cocoa percentage, the lower the sugar content will be. Lecithin Lecithin is an optional ingredient in dark chocolate.

Chocolate makers sometimes add milk fat to dark chocolate to soften it and add flavor. Just like lecithin, milk fat is not required to make dark chocolate. Flavorings Dark chocolate is often flavored with spices, extracts and oils to improve its taste. The most common flavoring you will see in dark chocolate is vanilla. Trans Fat If you come across dark chocolate that contains trans fat , avoid it. Bottom Line: Only a few ingredients are required to make dark chocolate.

The Optimal Cocoa Percentage. Chocolate with a higher cocoa percentage also tends to be lower in sugar. Avoid Alkalized or Dutched Dark Chocolate. This method is used to change the color of the chocolate and reduce the bitter flavor.

For this reason, chocolate that has been Dutched should be avoided. Choose Fair-Trade and Organic Chocolate. Growing and harvesting cacao beans is a difficult process for the producers.

Bottom Line: Fair-trade and organic chocolate supports cacao farmers and reduces your exposure to pesticides and artificial chemicals.

A Few Brands to Try. Here are a few high-quality dark chocolate brands for you to check out. Alter Eco Alter Eco chocolate is fair-trade and organic. Pascha Chocolate Pascha Chocolate makes chocolate in an allergen-free facility, so their products are free from common food allergens such as soy, dairy and wheat.

Antidote Chocolate Antidote Chocolate makes potent organic chocolate with ethically sourced cacao beans. Equal Exchange Equal Exchange chocolate is fair-trade and organic, made with high-quality ingredients.

Others Keep in mind that these are just a few suggestions. Bottom Line: There are many brands of high-quality dark chocolate to choose from. Cocoa comes first: Cocoa or a form of cocoa is the first ingredient. No unnecessary ingredients: Avoid dark chocolate that contains trans fat, milk, artificial flavorings, high amounts of sugar and other unnecessary ingredients.

No alkali processing: Alkali processing is also known as Dutching. Avoid chocolate processed this way. Young, Ph. And pay attention to the label: Dutch-processed cocoa tends to have a reduced flavonoid content because of how the chocolate is processed, while one recent study found that cocoa beans from Colombia had the highest flavonoid content, likely because of things like plant variety and geography. But experts agree that you should treat it like you would any other piece of candy and consume it in moderation.

With all of this in mind, here are the best healthy chocolate bar options to consider:. Taza chocolate is stone-ground, so it will have a slightly grainier texture, which some people prefer, instead of milky smooth. Per serving: calories, 16 g fat, 14 g carbs 3 g fiber , 4 g protein, 7 g sugar. Scott Keatley, R. Bonus: This dark chocolate comes in a case, so you enjoy some now and have plenty left over for later or to share!

Looking for a chocolate bar that steers completely clear of sugar? And did we mention that this bar is keto-friendly? Let the ingredients list speak for itself: organic cacao, unrefined organic coconut sugar, organic fair-trade cocoa butter, and sea salt.

Give back to your body and the environment when you eat one of these healthy chocolate bars. These also come in other fun flavors, like ginger snap, green tea crunch, and bananas foster.

Instead of dissolving on your tongue as you would expect, this Ghirardelli Intense Dark bar crumbled, crashed, and burned. The squares were small but dense and chunkier than the other bars tested. What caught us off guard the most was the chocolate's slightly smoky aftertaste. We can probably chalk that up to the natural and artificial flavors. The thick and chunky squares were hard to bite into, but the loud crunch was oddly satisfying.

The bar boasted an unexpected yet intriguing smokiness, which we were indifferent about. We think this pick would pair well with the earthiness of a full-bodied red wine. Lindt's master chocolatiers struck a balanced flavor that wasn't bitter or too sweet.

It tasted more like an intense milk chocolate bar than a dark bar, making it an ideal treat for those getting used to the taste of concentrated cacao.

Welcome to the dark side! The divinely velvety texture coupled with the balanced flavor made this pick our 1. Tearing off the edge of the paper shell revealed Godiva's golden foil wrapper—a fitting wrapper for a treat that reminded us of Charlie's gilded ticket to the Wonka factory.