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Revolutionary war, in fact sometimes it was given to soldiers as a payment, instead of money. Dutch cocoa powder was born in the mid-1800s and by the late 1800s Cadbury was launched in England. Then Nestle pioneered milk chocolate not long thereafter. Then finally chocolate is now a 4-billion-dollar industry in the US according to Smithsonian Magazine. Not bad for a humble little bean.

NutritionWhen I said chocolate is good for you, I mean it. The cacao beans are full of phytonutrients and flavanols, which is like antioxidants and are full of iron, copper, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus. But there is a catch. Dark chocolate is better for you as it contains a higher cocoa content – higher level of antioxidant - and less sugar and fat as in milk or white chocolate. Cacao can lower cholesterol, reduce cardiovascular problems, improve blood flow and according to The Journal of the International Society of Sports, a little dark chocolate might boost oxygen availability during fitness training. Another interesting fact from the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found from a study of at over 400 people over the age of 65 that consuming chocolate, this was from one chocolate snack a week, lowered the risk of cognitive decline by 40% over two years. Now if that is not an excuse to eat at least a bar of chocolate week, I don’t know what is. No excuse needed now for packing a range of chocolate in your pack. There are other health benefits too, but this is enough for now. There is more to talk about like what is the difference between dark, milk and white chocolate.

Types of chocolateDark chocolate is quite bitter due to the high cacao and low sugar content. It contains from 50-90% cocoa solids, cocoa butter and a bit of sugar. Caffeine is also present so the higher percent of cocoa solids the higher caffeine content. In a 70% dark chocolate block, in 60 grams there is about 60 milligrams of caffeine.

Milk chocolate is the most common chocolate that is eaten, and it contains 10-50% cocoa solids cocoa butter, milk, flavourings, and sugar. It has a more creamy, mellow and sweeter flavour than dark chocolate.

White chocolate does not contain any cocoa solids and is made up of cocoa butter, sugar and milk. However, it must contain at least 20% cocoa butter according to food standards. White chocolate has more kilojoules than dark chocolate.

Generally, chocolate has a high amount of kilojoules, due to the sugar content. So if you are health conscious and concerned about eating additional kilojoules and sugar, stick to the dark type and look at the nutritional panel on the pack to see how much sugar is present in the serving size or block and choose accordingly.

I was living in Germany and went to the Chocolate Museum in Cologne; it was so good. There was a working chocolate fountain on display and someone handing out wafer sticks. Well I visited it quite a few times. Just doing my quality check thing, like making sure it was still alright after 30 minutes. Someone must do it, and it may as well be me: I'm a qualified chef with a degree in food science, so I feel I am more than trained to do the job.

Finally, there are so many interesting facts regarding chocolate, however that is beyond the scope of this article. I will leave it up to you to do your own research. I hope I have given you more than enough excuses to eat and pack chocolate for your next hiking adventure, whether it be a day, overnight or a multiday hike. I have just packed in two blocks of dark chocolate with rum and raisin for my eight day back country ski trip coming up. And I do hope you agree with me that food should be a food group, eaten in moderation as part of a well-balanced meal plan. It is good for you, in moderation. I might just go and contact my network in the Food Standards to add chocolate to the food group now ... Enjoy!

58 | BWA August 2020