The Balanced Bites Team loves – no, scratch that – is obsessed with quality dark chocolate. It's our favorite don't-call-it-a-cheat, delicious, antioxidant-rich treat. Dark chocolate has some fascinating traits – and I'm not talking about the little rush you experience when it melts on your tongue. I'm talking about its power to improve your health! Mark's Daily Apple did a top-notch job explaining to all of us Why You Should Eat and Drink High-Cacao Dark Chocolate – regularly, in fact.
Here's a list of our top-five favorite chocolate bars – enjoy!
P.S. Half-way through writing this post I stopped to enjoy a chocolate bar. Yum!
#1: Alter Eco Dark Blackout 85% Chocolate Bar
Organic • GMO-Free • Sustainable • Fair trade
Number one on our list is Alter Eco Dark Blackout 85% Chocolate bar. This chocolate bar is known for its smoothness and deep, rich flavor. Alter Eco prides itself on the quality of its ingredients and their environmental non-impact; making this chocolate bar not only deeply satisfying but a great choice for the conscious eater.
#2: Endangered Species Organic Dark 70% Chocolate Bar 
Organic • GMO-Free • Sustainable • Fair trade
Coming in a very close second is Endangered Species Organic Dark 70% Chocolate bar. This bar has great “mass appeal” due to its lighter flavor, sweeter taste and commitment to charitable donations: 10 % of Endangered Species profits go to charity. Normally, we'd encourage you to opt for 80% dark chocolate or greater – but this one's flavor and commitment to charity won us over.
#3: Organic Panama Extra Dark 80% Chocolate Bar
Organic • Sustainable • Fair trade
Third place goes to Organic Panama Extra Dark 80% Chocolate bar. The perfect balance of bitter and sweet may be attributed to the organic Vanilla Beans used in this bar. Equal Exchange is a big supporter of small farmer co-ops and has visions of a food system that empowers the consumer.
#4: Madecasse Strong and Complex 80% Chocolate Bar
Sustainable • Fair trade
Even though Madecasse Strong and Complex 80% Chocolate bar comes in fourth on the list, don’t count it out! This chocolate bar should come with a warning – “Be advised: you will not be able to eat just one square.” Madecasse is one of the few fine chocolates made from scratch, from bean to bar; and it all takes place within Madagascar. Uniquely, the company was started by Peace Corps volunteers who wanted to do more to help their cause. Very cool!
#5: TAZA 87% Chocolate Bar 
Organic • Sustainable
Rounding out our chocolate obsessions is the Taza 87% Chocolate bar. Taza uses wooden boxes and banana leaves for the fermentation process of the cacao beans. This fermentation is what gives Taza chocolate a bright, bold flavor. The stone-ground chocolate gives this bar its great texture.
Cocoa and chocolate have been studied extensively for their impact on human health and disease; and the results have shown desirable effects in the reduction of blood pressure, antioxidant capacity, inflammation reduction, and even a boost in mood. Chocolate is, in fact, an ancestral food once held in high regard for its healing properties! As part of a nutrient-dense, ancestral-style diet, chocolate definitely has earned its place!
Comments 16
What is healthier to eat rosted cacao beans or more than 70% dark chocolate – no lechitin or any other emulsifiers added? 🙂
Thank you for the recommendations. I have been on the search for just this topic. I do have to say that I think it is completely unfair to have this post now while we are in the middle of The 21 Day Sugar Detox as inspired by your fearless leader on May 1, but I will be store this post for future reference. ;O)
I love Taza chocolate, I’m glad to see it made the list, it’s hard to find good quality and taste with no soy lechitin. Their website is fun too, you can put the control number in from your chocolate bar and see video of them actually making your chocolate!!! I’ve been enjoying my iced coffee with a 1/2 T of raw cacao powder and a few drops of stevia (post 21DSD, of course) occasionally…it’s a nice treat! Oh, and if any of your readers are in the UK…the absolute BEST chocolate is British made from Montezuma’s…organic, soy free and so yummy!!!
Endangered Species does have an 88% dark chocolate bar–it’s called Black Panther. It’s quite good!
those dark belgian chocolate bars at trader joes are the jam too!
Taza 87% is absolutely delicious. I tried it recently and fell in love. The texture is so unique. I cannot get enough of it!
it’s great that you pick sustainable companies but what about the ingredients? to promote any kind of chocolate to people who want the true taste of cacao, you should be buying raw & organic chocolate. there are many companies on the market. these are often made in small batches and stone ground with ingredients that we can understand. i only buy raw chocolate and the company that i support the most is Chocolatl. http://www.flowfoodschocolatl.com/ you should check out their products and compare. you will not be disappointment!!!
I will check them out! Thanks Heidi!
Why are some organic AND GMO-free and others just organic? I thought organic meant GMO free? Or am I missing something…
You’re correct, Carolyn. Organic is meant to indicate GMO-free. Please excuse the omission.
Our bodies did NOT evolve while eating chocolate. Another of paleo’s dirty little secrets.
Just be honest with yourself when you are eating it.
MaX…I’m not too concerned with that assertion (and our post was certainly not posed to “prove” such a thing), and I don’t consider it a “dirty little secret…” although the intricacies of evolution and ancestry are fascinating and filled with fun crevasses and little-known details. Cocoa was discovered and valued by traditional cultures – including, for example, the Aztecs – because it’s worth valuing, in my opinion. (Of course, the way they used the compound is quite different from your modern chocolate bar.) Many – including the Weston A. Price Foundation, an organization I wholeheartedly support – would disagree with my love of chocolate. That’s just fine! There’s no dishonesty here – although the intersection of history and science on the point of chocolate is quite fascinating. And I must point out that we didn’t evolve eating Holsteins, either…we must vet information for its modern application. It’s just not worth hand-wringing about…but we’re not dogmatic in our approach here at Balanced Bites.
Organic Panama is my absolute favorite. So yummy and my local market always has it in stock- that’s a good/bad thing!
Lindt has a line of very dark chocolate (I usually buy 99% – yes, that’s right, 995 cocoa!)
I also like Simply Lite bran Trader Joe’s has been carrying. It’s actually sugar free (they use maltitol as a sweetener). They have both milk and dark chocolate versions.
♥ Francois Pralus 100% http://www.chocolats-pralus.com/en/francois-pralus.html
Dark chocolate – good for the gut (http://caloriesproper.com/?p=1583), and liver (http://caloriesproper.com/?p=3043)… FTW!