Bittersweet Chocolate

At times, there can be lots of discussion around chocolate.  Any December holidays and of course Valentine’s Day it’s a hot topic.

Everyone knows about milk chocolate, white chocolate and even semi-sweet chocolate.  The question is how much do you know about bittersweet chocolate?

Bittersweet chocolate can be a great option if you have diabetes or if you are watching your sugar intake for any reason.

If you look for bittersweet chocolate at the grocery store, you’ll see that it has at least 70% cacao.  The higher the cacao percentage, the better off you are with the sugar content.

This higher cacao content is delicious in sweets like brownies, chocolate chip cookies, truffles, hot chocolate, chocolate mousse and chocolate.  

If you are diabetic you can modify many of these dishes by substituting different flours or almond milks and by using a monk fruit sugar substitute.

You may not notice a huge taste difference in bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate but there are four major differences:

Higher Cacao Percentage – the higher the cacao, the lower the sugar and cocoa butter in the chocolate.

Flavor Difference – bittersweet chocolate has a deeper and more bitter taste.

Crumblier Texture – with lower amounts of cocoa butter and milk solids the chocolate crumbles easier than other chocolates.

Color – you will see a much darker, almost black color with bittersweet chocolate.

Private Home Health Care loves chocolates and we especially like bittersweet chocolate at times for the health benefits.  It tastes great in many recipes.

#BittersweetChocolateDay