BrainReady Blog - Comment
I found a great chocolate bar at www.chocosphere.com, Dolfin brand and it has 88% cacao content. I ordered a box of them and thank goodness it's dark chocolate I prefer. I just break off a small piece each day. 
Ecco Bella chocolate at the whole foods are the best. They are expensive but worth for the price
I used to swear by Schnarfenberger but I'm really enjoying Intense Dark Cocolate with Cocoa Nibs from Endangered Species Chocolate (http://www.chocolatebar.com/shop/c-9-dark-
chocolate.aspx). It's 75% cocao and is 100% ethically traded, they buy their chocolate from small family-owned properties. Oh, I just saw their blueberry bars in the BR store...
Great tips and posts everyone! We're now listing the Dolfin 88% and many other chocolate/cocoa sources in our BrainReady Store, and agree...great stuff. Mahalie: we like ScharfenBerger too, particularly their Nibby Bar (with the cocoa nibs) although the cacao percentage is lower than we generally like, and the ScharfebBerger chocolate bars (even the 80/85% ones) seem to have more sugar than we're personally fans of, as well as additional flavorings, and the beans aren't organic...but still, tasty stuff indeed.
Mary: haven't yet tried the Ecco Bella but will, thanks for the tip!
A couple other recent bars we've tried and like are the Bernard Castelain 85% bar, which is somewhat similar to the Lindt 85% bar, but perhaps tastier, and the bars by one of our TOP picks, Theo Chocolate...particularly their 91% limited edition bar.
There's more and more great organic dark chocolate sources out there, available in more and more places, which is great for everyone...particularly us chocoholics 
Also be sure to check out the discussion happening on the BrainReady Discussion Board at: http://brainready.proboards58.co...i?
board=general
I believe the pleasurable effects of chocolate are related to a chemical called phenylethylamine (pea) but in Pikhal Alexander Shulgan tested the effects on himself and found no psychoactive properties.
If you want to experience the best Hot Cocoa Mix, try Tuccelli. I bought one of their 12oz. cans last week. It is all natural pure cocoa powder with a mild mix of sugar, single bean origin, made from the best cocoa beans from Ghana. This cocoa contains more antioxidants than an equal serving of red wine.
Try this...it tastes just like a brownie:
Equal parts dates and walnuts....dates give the sweetness to this ( I use the less expensive extruded dates, but be careful if you have a gluten allergy as they are coated with a bit of oatflour to keep from sticking together)
1 tbls pure cocoa powder
Mix all in a food processor, and press to shape in a small pan. put in refrig to harden and cut.
I also personally like to use a couple of tbls of pure coconut oil. I get the best coconut oil from www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com....virgin, centrifuged, it's about $64 a gallon delivered.
I'd like to recommend "Lindt Excellence 99%" from Swiss chocolatier Lindt. That chocolate contains at minimum 99% of cocoa solids. It is totally black and has a very strong cocoa taste, which is very different from other chocolates.
It is sold in certain shops in Europe. Dunno about the US.
The new chocolate diet is a dark expectorant of cocoa rich in multiple types of antioxidants that promote a healthy heart, protect from cancer and cleans blood vessels. wonderful article got many informations....
My favorite is Côte d'Or 70%, but I guess that's beside the point.
What I need to do is convince my wife that eating pure chocolate and walnuts is going to enhance my health. I can't do that unless you cite your studies properly and then provide links to where I can buy the entire article. Please help me out here!
How can I trust you otherwise? How could anyone?
I have studied the ancient Mayans and Aztecs and know the reverence they showed for the cacao bean.
I think the benefits of this bean have been known and told by many people for years now.
The question I have is this: Are the words 'cocoa' and 'cacao' interchangable? I mean are they the exact same thing, but of a different language?
I look at packaging that says "90% cocoa" and I continue to look for the same thing but with the word 'cacao' instead. When I do find said package, I flip it over and it is made with __% cocoa mass solids and butter...
Does this stil mean I've found a good bar?
Good people
Be carefull of the chocolate and cocoa powers. Most of the them are found to be contaning Lead, although they can't figure out how exactly lead got in there (leaded gasoline used in vehicles near the fields, processing,storage or shipping of the beans) Check our Mercola.com and do a search for chocolate.
Also, I found that this site mostly uses anecdotal evidence and give very informal opinions rather than solid references to multiple medical studies.
This is a repost of the same unanswered questions I asked over a year ago, at futurepundit.com
Jake Witmer said at September 6, 2007 11:33 PM:
I agree with Doug above. I have scoured the internet looking for USEFUL information about the details of the preparation and contents of the Kuna cacao drink. Seemingly nobody has useful information or wants to state anything even remotely helpful to understanding the phenomenon.
Most websites (those with an understanding of health below the level of Ray Kurzweil) just state something like: "Keep in mind that this doesn't mean that the sugar and fat that are added to chocolate are healthy!" Well, ...duuuuhhhhh!
What about someone who is above subnormal intelligence, who has found Stevia (in spite of the FDA's best attempts to murder us all before our time), and unsweetened soymilk, and lecithin (containing phosphatidyl choline)? What if we want to make our own INTELLIGENT CHOCOLATE FOOD IN OUR OWN HOMES, CHOCOLATE THAT CONTAINS NOTHING UNHEALTHY???!!! Why can't just a few futurists/doctors/health bloggers write something useful about the Kuna cacao study?
I guess I'll just need to find a copy of the actual study itself, since the people writing about it are such tools.
Among the questions that have been begged in virtually every article I've read on "Kuna Cacao" (but not answered in any of them) are:
1) Does the Kuna Cacao drink contain milk, sugar, or any other ingredient other than cacao nibs and water?
2) Are the nibs/raw cacao pieces suspended in the water, or steeped in the water?
3) Is the drink served cold, hot, or both?
4) Is the drink bitter, mild, what consistency is it? (Does anyone have a @#*$%! picture??????!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, can anybody get a $100 digital camera, or even a $10 disposable camera, and document the phenomenon that could save over 100,000(x10) lives a year in the wealthy, western, developed world? Would that be toooooo much to ask?)
5) What is the path/process from the vine to the cup that the Kuna cacao follows? I've read that it's "minimally processed" More minimally than normal (for local consumption) (normally cacao is fermented, do the Kuna skip the fermentation?, is it fresh off the vine? What?), or just "more minimally-processed" than factory-processed western cacao?
6) Is the Kuna cacao roasted or raw?
7) Do they include more of the cacao nut than usual?
If it is an infusion that they drink, do they keep the solids and eat them later?
9) How much of the "good stuff" is in the infusion, and how much in the solids?
10) Is an infusion (or wet mixture) necessary to facilitate proper absorbtion?
11) If a wet mixture is applied to the skin, how much of the "good stuff" epicatechin and other antioxidants and flavonoids is absorbed into the bloodstream? How much into the actual skin cells?
I hope I've given the people at Mars Inc. some research ideas! If they want to pay me silly sums of travel a
This is a repost of my comments at futurepundit from over 1 year ago. I still haven't received any intelligent answers to my questions.
Jake Witmer said at September 6, 2007 11:33 PM:
I agree with Doug above. I have scoured the internet looking for USEFUL information about the details of the preparation and contents of the Kuna cacao drink. Seemingly nobody has useful information or wants to state anything even remotely helpful to understanding the phenomenon.
Most websites (those with an understanding of health below the level of Ray Kurzweil) just state something like: "Keep in mind that this doesn't mean that the sugar and fat that are added to chocolate are healthy!" Well, ...duuuuhhhhh!
What about someone who is above subnormal intelligence, who has found Stevia (in spite of the FDA's best attempts to murder us all before our time), and unsweetened soymilk, and lecithin (containing phosphatidyl choline)? What if we want to make our own INTELLIGENT CHOCOLATE FOOD IN OUR OWN HOMES, CHOCOLATE THAT CONTAINS NOTHING UNHEALTHY???!!! Why can't just a few futurists/doctors/health bloggers write something useful about the Kuna cacao study?
I guess I'll just need to find a copy of the actual study itself, since the people writing about it are such tools.
Among the questions that have been begged in virtually every article I've read on "Kuna Cacao" (but not answered in any of them) are:
1) Does the Kuna Cacao drink contain milk, sugar, or any other ingredient other than cacao nibs and water?
2) Are the nibs/raw cacao pieces suspended in the water, or steeped in the water?
3) Is the drink served cold, hot, or both?
4) Is the drink bitter, mild, what consistency is it? (Does anyone have a @#*$%! picture??????!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, can anybody get a $100 digital camera, or even a $10 disposable camera, and document the phenomenon that could save over 100,000(x10) lives a year in the wealthy, western, developed world? Would that be toooooo much to ask?)
5) What is the path/process from the vine to the cup that the Kuna cacao follows? I've read that it's "minimally processed" More minimally than normal (for local consumption) (normally cacao is fermented, do the Kuna skip the fermentation?, is it fresh off the vine? What?), or just "more minimally-processed" than factory-processed western cacao?
6) Is the Kuna cacao roasted or raw?
7) Do they include more of the cacao nut than usual?
If it is an infusion that they drink, do they keep the solids and eat them later?
9) How much of the "good stuff" is in the infusion, and how much in the solids?
10) Is an infusion (or wet mixture) necessary to facilitate proper absorbtion?
11) If a wet mixture is applied to the skin, how much of the "good stuff" epicatechin and other antioxidants and flavonoids is absorbed into the bloodstream? How much into the actual skin cells?
I hope I've given the people at Mars Inc. some research ideas! I
Where is the useful article about chocolate and brain?!!!! Would like to read about it!
Finally healthy chocolate is here and it is combined with super food acai berry! It is absolutely decadent and uses No artificial ingredients!
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