Elementary Chef

My teenage daughter and I tried something new today — a CocoaVia chocolate almond snack bar. I can’t say that I blown away, but I was happy to eat something that did taste like chocolate and was only 80 calories for a bar. While this is NOT chocolate for foodies, for health-conscious chocaholics, this is worth a try. (For foodies, is there anything in the world that surpasses Lindor Truffles???)

According to Mars, the corporation behind such American favorites as M&M’s and Snickers, CocoaVia uses flavanols to help lower cholesterol and promote heart health. Like I needed an excuse to eat chocolate..!

The CocoaVia press release claims:

It may come as a surprise to chocolate lovers that it’s not the “milk” or “dark” chocolate that influences the amount of potentially heart-healthy cocoa flavanols in chocolate, but it’s the way the chocolate is processed. A common misconception is that only dark chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa is rich in flavanols. However, Mars, Incorporated has researched cocoa for more than 15 years and found that it is the level of flavanols in the cocoa used in the chocolate, not the percent of cocoa, that truly matters.

Through its research, Mars, Incorporated has found a way to keep both milk and dark chocolate lovers happy this Valentine’s Day by pioneering a new technology to retain much of the naturally occurring cocoa flavanols. CocoaVia milk chocolate products have the same levels of cocoa flavanols as CocoaVia Dark Chocolate products. All CocoaVia milk and dark chocolate products contain at least 100 milligrams of cocoa flavanols per serving, the natural compounds in cocoa beans that help to promote heart health.

Further, Mars conducted a study to figure out how we actually FEEL about chocolate. Are you kidding me? Here are some of their findings.

— Chocolate knows no gender - men and women might differ on many choices but chocolate preferences are not one of them. Milk chocolate is preferred by 41 percent of women and 47 percent of men, while dark chocolate is preferred by 25 percent of women and 26 percent of men.
— Chocolate preferences might have something to do with your age - Milk chocolate is preferred by 62 percent of 18-24 year olds but when people reach the age of 35 years, 45 percent of people prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate.
— There’s no need to debate over the great gift this Valentine’s Day - it turns out that chocolate is the number one gift to receive, beating out flowers and cards.

Hmm… Not sure how I feel about that last part. I love chocolate as much as the next girl, but I’d rather be given flowers. I will happily buy myself chocolate!