Can you make your own healthier chocolate?

cepheus

I'm baffled why they still put sugar into chocolate when there are sweetener alternatives which don't cause tooth decay or weight gain such as sucralose. I think there are some premium priced chocolate brands which do this, but is there a way of making your own through simply adding/melting sucralose to cooking/baking chocolate? Or would it just taste horrible?

rosie383

It would be horrible. Cooking choc generally has a high sugar and fat content and is low in the good stuff, cocoa. When I am abroad and there is only their rubbish choc to use, I add more cocoa to balance it out.

paddyrg

Not really - the sugar and fat is what makes it nice ;-)

You can buy 'raw cacao nibs' which are very snackable and without added fat and sugar - slightly bitter but interesting flavour. Maybe get into them instead?

Tinwhistler

I don't know but many health food shops use carob as a substitute.

cepheus

rosie383 wrote: »

It would be horrible. Cooking choc generally has a high sugar and fat content and is low in the good stuff, cocoa. When I am abroad and there is only their rubbish choc to use, I add more cocoa to balance it out.

I may be using the wrong terminology then. I mean this stuff

"Unsweetened chocolate", also known as "bitter", "baking chocolate", or "cooking chocolate", is pure chocolate liquor mixed with some form of fat to produce a solid substance. The pure, ground, roasted cocoa beans impart a strong, deep chocolate flavor. With the addition of sugar, however, it is used as the base for cakes, brownies, confections, and cookies.

cepheus

I'm not sure why we use sugar in anything if its sweetness can replaced with something safer. Not on same wavelength! Why didn't I just Google?

Homemade Chocolate Chips | Carob Chips Recipe

Mojisola

cepheus wrote: »

I'm not sure why we use sugar in anything if its sweetness can replaced with something safer.

Are the replacements 'safer' than sugar?

cherryblossomzel

Mojisola wrote: »

Are the replacements 'safer' than sugar?

I don't think so, no. I don't have stuff to hand right now, but I'm sure I read recently that there is mounting concern over sweeteners.

They make chocolate for diabetics that use some kind of sugar replacment. I tried one once, it tasted OK, but the calories in it was the same as regular chocolate, so pointless if you're not diabetic (I believe that particular substitute has a different effect on insulin, which is why it is diabetic-friendly). It was expensive too.

Mojisola

cherryblossomzel wrote: »

They make chocolate for diabetics that use some kind of sugar replacment. I tried one once, it tasted OK, but the calories in it was the same as regular chocolate, so pointless if you're not diabetic (I believe that particular substitute has a different effect on insulin, which is why it is diabetic-friendly). It was expensive too.

And also a laxative!

VJsmum

Just buy a higher cocoa solids chocolate.

Aldi do a lovely one at 85% cocoa - Moser Roth.

You find you don't need as much of it to feel satisfied.

suki1964

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/chocolate-making