Korean Job Discussion Forums

[princess]

Has anyone tried one of these 99% cacao chocolate bars yet? I bought one yesterday and tried it today. Good, but boy is it strong chocolate! Quite bitter!

[movybuf]

Totally nasty! I wouldn't feed it to a dog. But the dog probably has sense enough not to eat something that bad.

[princess]

Supposedly, it's supposed to be quite healthy and full of antioxidants.

[nautilus]

is it "korean chocolate'?

[princess]

[merkurix]

I beg to differ, but 99% cacao is indeed bitter, but it is not worthy of being fed to one's dog (the results could be lethal actually). It is what you get when you take pure, pure chocolate and the only thing holding it together is 1% starch or cocoa butter. The Japanese make a bitter hot chocolate with it that they drink like a tea. Some Koreans emulate that experience. The ancient Aztecs of Mexico drank it that way, and put a few shakes of hot pepper to taste. Westerners use it for baking. And it smells sooo good. But the taste is a different story.

[ForceOne]

It's beyond terrible- worse than Baker's chocolate.

[Thunndarr]

It's amusing because I recently read a study (can't remember where) that said anti-oxidants are of dubious health value.

[Rteacher]

Prevention Magazine still recommends dark chocolate for health reasons - and apparently it increases sex desire in women ...

This article also rates nine popular brands of dark chocolate for taste (I think that Dove dark chocolate was rated the tastiest ...)
http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-3-71-56-6334-1,00.html

I occasionally get some at Hannam Supermarket. My favorite is a Swiss brand (I can't remember the name...) that has almost paper-thin 70% dark chocolate wafers ...

[mindmetoo]

Yeah the 99% is actually not too bad, as long as you go in knowing what it tastes like and not expecting a Snickers Bar. This whole % chocolate craze we see around us partially stems from a Korean study that found chocolate is high in anti-oxidants. But you need, I think, over 40% cocoa. Traditional milk chocolate is in the 20% ballpark.

That said, getting anti-oxidants from diet and helping ward off aging/disease was very promising about 10 years ago but current research is casting a lot of doubt on the benefits. Here's a good summary of the current findings:

http://www.quackwatch.org/03HealthPromotion/antioxidants.html

[cangel]

I tried the 72% and the 86% and personally find both of the utterly disgusting. Nothing but bitter! Nasty, Nasty stuff. I don't mind reguar dark/bitter chocolate but these are just too much.

[Adventurer]

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Last Updated: Sunday, 11 March 2007, 00:30 GMT

E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Cocoa nutrient for 'lethal ills'
By Michelle Roberts
BBC News health reporter



Natural cocoa has a bitter taste
A nutrient in cocoa called epicatechin appears to lower the risk of four common killer diseases, work suggests.

Among the Kuna people of Panama, who can drink up to 40 cups of cocoa per week, rates of stroke, heart disease, cancer and diabetes are less than 10%.

The Kuna also appear to live longer than other Panama inhabitants and do not get dementia, a US scientist reports in Chemistry and Industry.

Experts stressed that genes and other lifestyle factors also play a part.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6430777.stm

I posted about this earlier. When I think of the 99% Cacao Meiji bar, I think "Yuck!". I tried it twice. It is way too bitter. I like having a healthy heart, but you can get that way by following a healthy mediterranean style diet, consuming apples, grapes........ I am sure studies saying chocolate is good for you will help the chocolate industry. I don't know if that is the goal of some of those studies. However, if you consume a lot of the chocolate that we consume, you may become obese, and eventually live a shorter life. Many people will misread the findings regarding the healthfulness of chocolate, but these studies don't often add these caveats. We should take studies encouraging us to drink wine or eat chocolate with a grain of salt. It's marketing to a large extent.

[Zoobot]

My friend is starting a chocolate business, and he's leaning towards the higher purity of cacao side of things. It's not only anti-oxidants that chocolate has; it has some effect on the neurotransmitters in your brain. I can't remember exactly what exactly that effect is, but supposedly it's good brain-food.

[Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat]

Chocolate is like any foodstuff - the quality varies. The fact that it is bitter doesn't make it bad at all (I love good bitter chocolate for the same reason I enjoy bitter beer, and strong black coffees). If it is of a high grade, the aromas, texture, and flavor will all be excellent. If it's cheap crap, then the only way to pass it off as edible is to drown it in sugar (i.e most of the crap you eat daily). Actually the best chocolate requires less sugar.

I think I've tried the Meiji brand stuff, it wasn't very good (not sure if they also make higher quality stuff or not). Lindt brand 99% is pretty good for generic.

[mindmetoo]