Reporter's Notebook: Cracking the chocolate code

— -- An entire wall of chocolate has taken up residence in my grocery store. I’m not talking about milk chocolate candy bars, but rather high-end gourmet chocolate that can cost $5, $10 even $20 a bar.

'Chocolate is the new wine'

Dark chocolate’s health benefits

But $20?

What do those percentages on the label mean?

Taste is subjective

The midrange $7 bar won our taste test

What else makes a bar good?

Final benefit of dark chocolate: Less sugar

I need only two to three squares of dark chocolate to be sated. It’s so rich that it quickly satisfies my sweet tooth, but I can inhale an entire milk chocolate bar without a second thought.

Our chocolate expert (what a job!) explained, “The percentage only tells you how sweet it is. It does not tell you the quality at all.” For example, 70 percent means 70 percent of the bar is cacao, the rest mostly sugar and some binders like lecithin. So a 95 percent cacao bar is pretty bitter; a 70 percent bar is sweeter.

The quality of the beans is not reflected in that percentage. Williams said, “You can make a 70 percent bar from really not-so-good-tasting beans.”

Taste is subjective

The midrange $7 bar won our taste test

What else makes a bar good?

Final benefit of dark chocolate: Less sugar

I need only two to three squares of dark chocolate to be sated. It’s so rich that it quickly satisfies my sweet tooth, but I can inhale an entire milk chocolate bar without a second thought.

I need only two to three squares of dark chocolate to be sated. It’s so rich that it quickly satisfies my sweet tooth, but I can inhale an entire milk chocolate bar without a second thought.