Dark chocolate
[7][8] Other academics claim this occurred by circa 1800 BC by ancient Olmec people of what’s now Mexico and Central America.
[11] Europeans adapted chocolate with Old World ingredients, including sugar,[12] and after bringing it to Europe, it spread and became popular among the elite.
[20] During the World Wars, dark chocolate was fortified with vitamins A, B1, B2, C, D, niacin and sometimes calcium to prevent malnutrition.
[26] The following decade, a nationwide campaign in France aimed to move the public to appreciate locally produced dark chocolates with sophisticated flavor.
Taste makers and producers worked together to create flavor standards using concepts borrowed from wine connoisseurship.
[27] This was motivated by foreign firms capturing swathes of the French confectionary market at the expense of local chocolatiers.
[28] Simultaneously, high-quality dark chocolate began to be attributed psychoactive and possibly aphrodisiac qualities due to its theobromine content.
[20] In the 1990s, French flavor standards, having gained mass uptake domestically, were intentionally exported to the United States.
[27] These standards, laid out in published guides and chocolate tastings, evoked terroir, bean varietals and estate growths.
In a 100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference serving, dark chocolate provides 2,500 kilojoules (600 kilocalories) of food energy, and is a rich source (defined as more than 20% of the Daily Value, DV) of several dietary minerals, including copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc (table).
While dark chocolate is popularly considered a health food,[47] only limited high-quality clinical research has been conducted to evaluate the effects of compounds found in cocoa on physiological outcomes, such as blood pressure, for which only small (1–2 mmHg) changes resulted from short-term, high consumption of chocolate up to 105 grams and 670 milligrams of flavonols per day.
[48] A recent 2024 study though showed that those who consumed more than five servings a week of dark chocolate had about 20% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
[49] Flavanols found in dark chocolate include the monomers catechin and epicatechin, and (to a lesser extent) the polymeric procyanidins, which remain under laboratory research.
[50] To consume enough cocoa flavanols for the presumed effects claimed in some limited studies requires eating at least around 4.75 ounces (135 g) of dark chocolate a day, which also involves intake of significant amounts of sugar and saturated fats.
[51] A 2021 systematic review of the health effects of chocolate and cocoa found high-quality research had still not been performed to evaluate physiological outcomes.
The only health effects observed were improvements in lipid profiles; control subjects showed no significant differences in terms of skin, cardiovascular, anthropometric, cognitive and quality of life outcomes.
[57] However, a 2024 study published in Food Research International found that high metal content in dark chocolate may pose health concerns mainly only for children.
[65] The basic process of making dark chocolate involves mixing, refining, conching and standardizing.
[68] As long as the cocoa mass has been correctly milled, the refining process for dark chocolate is primarily about grinding down sugar.
[69] Refining involves putting chocolate through a refiner machine, which carries the cocoa mass through large steel rollers set to varying widths, enveloping them in fat until the chocolate particles are as small as is desired, and the cocoa mass is a fine powder.
These accommodations can involve beginning the refining process with less cocoa mass, and only integrating the rest during the conching stage.
[63] If needed to reach a desired yield or viscosity, more cocoa butter can be added before the mixture undergoes laboratory testing for particle size and food safety.
[78] As of 2017, the United States Food and Drug Administration did not regulate a standard identity for dark chocolate, which had led to concerns that some products were made from vegetable fats and customers had been misled by health claims.
[79] During the 2010s, demand for high-cocoa dark chocolate increased in light of research linking the antioxidant content with a reduced risk of cancer and cardiovascular health.
About a third of sales were identified as from organic chocolate, and the market as influenced by the volatile cost of cocoa beans.
