proclus's Journal: Healthful easy fudge recipe

As has been noted previously in this blog, cocoa flavonoids share in the healthful benefits of other noted flavonoids, such as citrus bioflavonoids and parsley apigenin. In fact, 70% dark chocolate has been widely recommended because of the demonstrated health benefit.

I had suspected that most of the phenolics and other beneficial anti-oxidants were bound to the fiber in the cocoa solids, and like many other foods, such as grain and citrus, this turns out to be the case. It is unfortunate that these beneficial substances have sometimes been set aside in the past, but thankfully, that is changing. In the case of cocoa, this tends to be less of a problem, because the delicious chocolate flavor resides in the solid fraction, from which cocoa powder is made. There is, however, some cause for concern, because harsh processing is often used to improve the flavor, and it is likely that much nutrient loss results from these processes. This is why I favor plain, inexpensive, commonplace cocoa powder. One of the reasons it is less expensive is that it has received less processing. It should be noted that it is not too hard to find a whole pound of cocoa powder for the price of a single 70% dark chocolate bar, and the powder is likely just as beneficial. You can even improve the healthfulness by adding more cocoa than is found in the chocolate bar without sacrificing flavor, as I explain in the article, and provide a delicious fudge recipe to prove it.

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