100% cacao chocolate: This thread is... - Low-Carb High-Fat...

Low-Carb High-Fat (LCHF)

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100% cacao chocolate

Professor-Yaffle profile image

This thread is just indulging my own interests; I appreciate it’s a bit niche.

100% cacao chocolate is controversial - most seem to experience it as “too bitter” for consumption. There are some really mellow and creamy bars out there though… and some that taste very fruity.

100% chocolate generally has between 5 and 12g of carbs per 100g. There’s quite high variation from bar to bar because sometimes they stick the fibre in with carbs and sometimes it’s detailed separately. Some bars have a higher fibre content and some are much lower - processed differently I presume? Anyway they all have very low or zero natural sugar. Not sure about starch….. that may also be what makes the carbs vary from bar to bar.

I don’t worry about the carb count as I can never eat loads because it’s so satiating. Just a couple of squares a pop. And obviously the carbs are much lower than 80% chocolate (which is 20%, or one fifth sugar - - yikes!!)

Apparently 100% cocoa is also very high in antioxidants - if you’re into that kind of thing.

People say it’s not “addictive” like sugary/milky chocolate can be. So if you a problem with “sugar addition” but also really like the flavour of chocolate, I suppose it could be a useful supplement. However, I have had a few problems with the caffeine content making it hard to sleep - I suspect this is because I don’t drink caffeinated drinks so my body can’t tolerate caffeine well at all, even in small amounts. So I don't eat it in the late afternoon or evening. If a person drinks tea and coffee on a regular basis perhaps they would have less of a problem as they would have a much better tolerance?

I usually have a few bars on the go at once as they can taste very different from one another and I like to compare. Some do taste bitter and some taste more fruity, some are more earthy and sometimes there’s a mineral flavour like salt or metal…. it’s a bit like wine tasting in that sense, it depends on the geography, geology and climate of the growing region. They do all taste of chocolate in my experience; Not Dairy Milk, just pure chocolate.

If you’re new to 100% cocoa chocolate and want to try, I suggest either working your way up to it; starting at 90% cocoa and working in increments if you can find bars in the 90s (they are available online). Or jump in with the Montezuma absolute black range, which features some flavoured bars with mint, orange oil etc…. Montezuma’s are also cheaper than most 100% bars.

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Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle
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47 Replies
Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle

This is another good intermediate bar to go from milky/sugary chocolate to 100% chocolate. It's just made of chocolate and milk so it's not sweet but it's not as intense as 100%. The mouthfeel is very creamy and it has a nice biscuity flavour.

It's high in carbs at 17g per 100g (of which 12 are sugar from the milk). But one of the things I love about the Zotter bars in the squaring the circle range (they also do a nice 100% bar which I really like), is that they have very small squares, each containing only about 0.68 g of carbs (and only 0.48g natural sugar). So even on a Keto diet this chocolate can still be consumed moderately.

just chocolate and milk...
Cosmo501 profile image
Cosmo501

Love your post. Exactly spot on. I only discovered this last year (I think.. or could've been a bit before, 2021 was a bit of a blur!)Yes, I did find it was an unexpected taste to begin with, but was prepared to try it based on the rave reviews of others.

I still can't believe how satisfying it is to just have 2 small squares. When I first started eating it I just tucked into it the way I would have before, with a 'normal' chocolate bar... soon realised I didn't actually want or need to eat very much. I can never recommend this sort of chocolate highly enough. It's been a revelation!

I also realised over time that the caffeine was something I should be aware of, and I wouldn't normally have 100% cacao later in the day, in the same way I wouldn't have a strong coffee later in the day either. However.. I did yesterday. Just because I felt like it :-)

My favourite at the moment is the Montezuma with almond flakes through it. Nutty and delicious. I hope your post encourages more people to give it a go :-)

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Cosmo501

Hi Cosmo501

I'm interested to know it's not just me who struggles with the caffeine - I had wondered if I was imagining it or perhaps it was psychosomatic as I read somewhere that the caffeine levels are very low - clearly enough to impact us sensitive souls though.

Over the last 6 months I've been trying a lot of different brands so I'm going to do some summaries below.

Please add your own tasting notes, pictures and recommendations I would love to read them.

I just ordered some Montezuma 100% eggs which have a small amount of peanut butter in the middle..... never tried them, very excited! I will keep them for an unordinary indulgence as I'm trying not to overdo the peanuts at the moment and I think the addition of peanut may increase the moreishness considerably!

Juppy profile image
Juppy

Ah thanks! I’ll give it a try. I had tried 80% chocolate before but it was a double whammy - I didn’t enjoy it that much though it made me crave more and I easily downed the full bar (or a second one if I had it!). Perhaps going cold turkey to 100% is worth giving a try. This afternoon I’m having keto chocolate mousse made entirely with avocado, cocoa powder, stevia and salt. I don’t do sweeteners often, but this mousse occasionally hits the spot for something chocolatey.

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Juppy

I've been meaning to try a dessert mousse made with avocado for a while now. I've read a few recipes but never got round to it. I bet it's lovely. Hope you enjoy it. Maybe post a photo? I bet the salt is the perfect addition to bring out the chocolate flavour.

I'd be very interested to read your thoughts on the 100% stuff, even if you hate it. Montezuma's have some snowman shaped 100% in the sale at the moment I noticed.

My favourite so far is Firetree 100% Solomon Islands bar - you can get it on Ocado and from Holland and Barrett - but it's an eye-watering £7!!! I'm going to write a bit more about different brands i've tried below but I'll do it gradually.

Porridgelover profile image
Porridgelover

Ooops just checked my bar and it's 70% cacao. Tastes very nice but can't eat too much of it in one sitting so all good! Thanks for the information I'll go higher next time I buy chocolate.

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Porridgelover

Hi Porridgelover. Well 70% is certainly fairing much better than some of the standard chocolates on the market. Dairy Milk is only 25% apparently.....

Fabfor50 profile image
Fabfor50

I am not at 100% yet. Too much! I’m an unhelpful fan of 85% & it’s best if it’s not in the house… Can’t eat anything less than 70% now. Unpleasantly sweet.

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Fabfor50

Hi Fabfor50. I think not having it in the house sounds very wise.

There are 86% and 87% bars on the market and perhaps the further up you go the less you will be compelled to eat more than you would plan to.

However, the experiment in itself could be dangerous as there would be 14 chocolate bars between you and 100% (if you took it up in 1% intervals) ..... now it sounds not such a good idea after all 😂

Fabfor50 profile image
Fabfor50 in reply to Professor-Yaffle

I think it’s something for birthdays & Christmas…

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Fabfor50

Fair enough. Have a lovely day Fabfor50. 💐

Fabfor50 profile image
Fabfor50 in reply to Professor-Yaffle

Because a) hugh Jarse b) no self control…Have a good day too!

AnnieW55 profile image
AnnieW55

I haven't eaten “milk” chocolate in years. I’m a regular purchaser of 95% with forays into 99%, generally when on offer, but have never bought 100%. I have one square at a time - a far cry from my younger years when I would often eat several bars of 6d 😊 (2.5pence) chocolate (and they were larger then, no snack sizes) a day.

The caffeine doesn’t affect me, I mainly drink decaf tea and coffee but have just started having unsweetened (milk only) cocoa in the earlyish evening.

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to AnnieW55

I love confectionary nostalgia - I looked up the 6d bars - the lime one looks horrible! I wouldn't be surprised if the standard dairy milk recipe was slightly different back then before they got bought out by all the mass conglomerates.

I like the sound of your unsweetened cocoa, would be nice with a splash of brandy.

AnnieW55 profile image
AnnieW55 in reply to Professor-Yaffle

You got me looking those bars too😀. A trip down memory lane! I had forgotten about, amongst others, the lime centered bars - I actually liked them but didn’t care for the strawberry (give me real berries every time) and positively disliked the marzipan one. I believe you are correct in thinking there have been some recipe tinkerings.

If you like brandy I’m sure a splash of it in milky cocoa would be good. I generally add cocoa to both my homemade plain yoghurt and chia pudding 😋.

sunny369 profile image
sunny369

Fascinating, thank you. I am a long way off 100% but I have been working my way up as my taste buds adjust. I love your description of it being like wine tasting :) that might encourage me when getting into more challenging flavours!I would certainly be interested in seeing your future reviews of different ones. I am definitely going to try the Squaring the Circle on you mention below, thanks.

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to sunny369

The great thing about working your way up in cocoa strength is that you can find almost any percentage online these days... want a 77% or maybe 78% - well both are available! Gone are the days of either white, milk or dark.

Please let me know your thoughts if you try the squaring the circle.

sunny369 profile image
sunny369 in reply to Professor-Yaffle

will do :)

MTCee profile image
MTCee

I often enjoy a few squares of Godiva 90% chocolate. It’s really smooth and not at all bitter. I would rate it higher than Green and Blacks 80% chocolate which is very good but a bit too sweet for me. Ive only tried 100% once. I think it was the Montezuma brand. I’m afraid I found it rather unpleasant. Unfortunately, the caffeine content can be a problem for me since I only drink decaf tea and coffee.

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to MTCee

I know the Godiva bar you mean and I think it's absolutely excellent. It's not too sweet and as you say not bitter in slightest but still it almost tastes like milk chocolate because it's so creamy. It's not badly priced either. Before I switched to 100% it was my go to bar for cooking and eating. It was recommended to me by someone very in the know about food. When I relax my carbs a bit (which is not right now) I still use it in cooking from time to time and when I do I can't help but eat a few squares neat.

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle

I will get round to writing about the bars I have tried eventually and gradually.... but today I am a bit blown over by my chocolate peanut eggs that just arrived. If you have tried, and like, the Montezuma's 100% bars and if you like peanuts you will like these!

Each bag is 150g which is 12 eggs at 12.5g each.

At 8g carbs (4g sugar) per 100g, each egg has 1 gram carbs of which 0.5g is sugar.... and most of the rest will be fibre (some starch too though I would think).

Just three ingredients; cocoa solids, peanut butter (14%) and salt.

I REALLY like them. There is not loads of peanut butter and it's mixed in with the cocoa making the centre slightly softer than the shell and sort of like a very thick and dense ganache. What I really like is the saltiness - it's quite intense.

I was going to put one next to a coin for scale but I don't have coins anymore - you can see from my tape measure that they are quite big. They are satisfying to hold because they are quite weighty and dense and they are nice to smell too. Very filling! In my excitement and delight I ate two but one would definitely suffice for a little chocolate snack, an after lunch pick-me-up or something to go with coffee.

A word of warning though; if you don't like 100% cocoa chocolate then you probably won't like these; the peanut butter adds an amazing flavour and texture but it doesn't add any sweetness - these are predominantly salty, fatty, chocolatey, rich and bitter.

I fear they may be an Easter release that will soon be discontinued but I reckon I could make these myself easy peasy...... and if I did, I think I would add slightly more peanut butter...

yum.
Cosmo501 profile image
Cosmo501 in reply to Professor-Yaffle

Loving your description of these! -- I can only find the milk chocolate version of them so far... which I won't be buying.. but I'll keep looking for these 100% dark variety :-)

Cosmo501 profile image
Cosmo501 in reply to Cosmo501

.. that didn't take long. Found them now!

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Cosmo501

Great. Hope you enjoy them 🍫🥜🥚!

Cosmo501 profile image
Cosmo501 in reply to Professor-Yaffle

They arrive tomorrow... I'll let you know!

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle

Mixed thoughts about this bar. It was really expensive so I really wanted to be blown away by it - but I wasn't. In fact I didn't like it at first (that's pretty unusual for me) .....but having tried it a few times it's definitely growing on me.

It's very creamy and I really enjoyed the texture and mouthfeel! It's mellow initially which is lovely. I'm usually a massive fan of earthy flavours but I find something like a mushroomy flavour in the middle of this that I don't always enjoy.

I really enjoy the absence of any strong fruity flavours. There is no Um Bongo or tropical fruits here!

This bar tastes a little yeasty; to my palate the aftertaste is like a very dry sake, which is unexpected and, I think, quite pleasant. Theres also bitterness and some petrichor in the aftertaste.

This bar is a mixture of mineral and earthy flavours and a it's a bit like a dry forest floor that has just been flooded by torrential rain. Something about it also reminds me of sheet of high quality paper.

mixed feelings
Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle

As with the Zotter Squaring the Circle milk bar above, this has small squares, which is welcomed by me. It's at the cheaper end of 100% bars and I think it's an excellent all rounder.

Something a little more approachable....
Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Professor-Yaffle

Here are the Zotter tasting notes which I agree with. Mainly nutty and a little bit fruity.

It is very chocolatey! I know one would expect all 100% chocolate bars to be chocolatey but that's not the case IMO (see review of the Pump Street bar above). This one is not too bitter so might be a good starter bar (please note I mean that in relative terms - it's still going to taste bitter if your new to 100%).

11g carbs per 100g of which only 0.6g is sugars. Fibre is not detailed separately, so I'm guessing that the vast majority of the 11g is fibre with some starch.

Zotter bars usually have tasting notes inside....
Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle

I'm writing in no particular order but I'm going to write about some smaller, more niche brands over the coming days.....

I also want to write about the Firetree 100% bar from the main photo it's a relatively well known brand, easily available, very expensive but very good.

Have a nice weekend all.

Sheperdess profile image
Sheperdess

I’m so pleased to see this post 👍I’ve been leaning heavily on Waitrose No. 1 Ecuador Dark Chocolate 90% at 22.4g carbs per 100g bar. It’s rich and creamy but 2 squares (20g) are perfect for me. I’ve been dabbling in100% and the Montezuma 100% dark chocolate drops although great in cooking are a little bitter for me. This week we had an Ocado delivery and I’ve tried this Original Beans brand. The 88% was lovely. The 100% had a good fruity taste but still too bitter for me at the moment.

My biggest problem is finding where to buy some of these more unusual brands. Several of the websites I looked at seemed a bit off of the products were always sold out. Any suggestions on source Professor-Yaffle ? 😄Thanks

Two chocolate bars
Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Sheperdess

Hi Sheperdress

I buy from occasionally from Ocado and direct from Monetezuma..... most things I get from Cocoa Runners who probably have nearing 100 different 100% bars available (Cocoa Runners are very reliable when you actually get to order something, although I do often have to wait for things I want to be back in stock).

I'd never heard of the Original Beans brand so will add the 100% bar to my next Ocado. Thank-you. 🍫🥰

Sheperdess profile image
Sheperdess in reply to Professor-Yaffle

Thank you for the helpful reply. I’ll look up Cocoa Runners 👍I think I’ve remembered wrongly and the Original Beans might have been from Abel&Cole … 🙄Apologies

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Sheperdess

I managed to order some from Ocado ☺️

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Sheperdess

Well it arrived this morning Sheperdess . I just broke my fast with two squares to go with my decaf coffee.

I was going to wait to open it as I have about 5 or 6 other bars on the go, but when I read the tasting notes on the back I couldn't resist trying it. It says notes of dried flowers and grass. Two of my favourite smells / flavours. I love anything floral and I'm a big fan of a super grassy extra virgin olive oil.

It may be the power of suggestion but I did get a slightly floral aftertaste 💐... so that's quite unusual for a 100% bar.

All round, a nice bar I thought - not too bitter, definitely chocolately. I do tend to like the Peruvian bars I've noticed....

Thank-you Sheperdess. I will look forward to trying some more.

original beans 100%
Sheperdess profile image
Sheperdess in reply to Professor-Yaffle

I’m so glad you like it 😁. I’ll keep trying the 100% chocolate as it is definitely true that taste buds change as you reduce the sugar in your diet. I’m having 2 squares of 90% with full strength freshly ground coffee ☕️ now … aaaaah. Ready for whatever work comes my way this afternoon 😌

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Sheperdess

That sounds an excellent mid-day pick-me-up. Enjoy 🐞

Fran182716 profile image
Fran182716

Really interesting thread which I will follow for ideas !

I don’t enjoy milk chocolate at all now - too sweet.

The Montezuma I found too bitter but may try again - taste buds change

I currently enjoy 80% or 85%, all the main supermarkets seem to do their own brand, and I do really like the Godiva 90% but have not seen it recently anywhere I regularly shop. Luckily it doesn’t cause cravings and I can happily enjoy one or two squares and stop unlike in the past with milk chocolate.

I’ve just bought Lindt 90% to try as a “stepping stone” to higher percentage but finishing up the Sainsbury’s 80% first.

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Fran182716

Hi Fran182716

Great, your definitely working your way up the percentages!

I used to get the Godiva bar from Ocado - not sure if they still stock it though and it doesn't help if you like to buy your groceries in person.

Let us know what you think of the Lindt 90% and how it compares to the Godiva 90% (which seems to be pretty well loved in the LCHF community).

Take care 🌳

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle

Just finished this bar. Very very pretty packaging but the chocolate was quite fruity for my palate, if your a fan of very fruity chocolate you might like this one.

Rococo 100%
Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Professor-Yaffle

The pieces are quite large!

Rococo 100%
Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle

Not so keen on the Hotel Chocolat 100% - it's readily available on the high street but I find the aftertaste excessively bitter and I quite like bitter food. I am , as you can see from the amount missing, still eating them, regardless of the aftertaste.

hmmmm....
BridgeGirl profile image
BridgeGirl in reply to Professor-Yaffle

Yes, I see you struggled on with them :D

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to BridgeGirl

Well what can I say ..... I was raised not to waste food 😂And they are nice dipped in creamy coffee 😊

BridgeGirl profile image
BridgeGirl in reply to Professor-Yaffle

That does sound good

Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle

Meanwhile Montezuma have released a bar version of the peanut eggs. It's very nice! Same saltiness. The addition of the peanut butter makes it quite a soft bar.

Peanut Butter Bar
Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle

This one is a bit harder to come by but you can get it from Cocoa Runners who stock maybe 80 different 100% bars at any one time.

I'm a big fan of this bar. It's very creamy, not bitter and it's almost savoury. Tasters mention things like grass and earthiness, which I agree with. I also think it tastes a little of potatoes that have been cooked in cream. Which is odd. But overall it tastes and feels creamy and it's VERY mellow with no acidic or bitter aftertaste.

Expensive at £6.95 a bar but for me it's definitely worth it.

My Favourite so far.....
Professor-Yaffle profile image
Professor-Yaffle in reply to Professor-Yaffle

Forgot to say that it's from a very well renowned french chocolatier established in the 40's so they do seem to know what they are doing with chocolate.

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