Many people don't realize that cocoa and therefore chocolate products deliver many naturally occurring compounds similar to other foods in a healthy, plant-based diet. Some of these beneficial compounds are minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and copper. Much of the current research is focused on another group of compounds called flavanols. Because of their molecular structure, many compounds in the flavanol family can act as antioxidants.

Yes. This substitution can also be found on each HERSHEY'S Cocoa can. 3 level tablespoons of cocoa plus 1 tablespoon shortening equals 1 ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate.

There's a lot of folklore and literature about the health benefits of tea. This is unfortunate, because tea is toxic and addictive. I advise against all tea, including herbal, black, oolong, and green. Herbal tea is not really tea, but a brew of herbs, which supposedly are beneficial, but actually are quite toxic. Black, oolong, and green tea all come from the same plant. Black tea has more caffeine; green tea has more antioxidants; and oolong tea is intermediate between black tea and green tea.

If your pet receives a good diet based on carcasses and raw meaty bones then his antioxidant levels should be optimum. Best to steer clear of 'magical' supplements designed to 'improve on nature' because, after a long evolutionary history, nature really does know best. People living on wartime rations were found to suffer from an incomplete and unbalanced diet, they lacked sufficient fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and milk - hence the preoccupation with the term 'complete and balanced'.

Honey is known to be rich in antioxidants. These include catalase, ascorbic acid, flavonoids and alkaloids.

Chocolate containing refined sugar or syrups is very bad for you. I eat it very rarely. Chocolate is not addictive. It's the refined sugar that's addictive. Unsweetened chocolate is actually good for you. Some experts whose opinion I value, say that eating 1oz. of dark chocolate daily, can add a few years to your life. They also say that chocolate contains such good things as antioxidants.

Good question! It's not that the non-organically-grown is not vegan, but there are ethical issues around the production of chocolate and cocoa. For more about this, see the article by John Robbins here. Organic is not necessarily fair-trade (see the article), but, if you can't find fair-trade chocolate and cocoa, organic at least does not endanger the workers with pesticides. Alot of us use chocolate chips for for cooking and baking. Cocoa butter is vegan.

Chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine, between 0.3% (milk chocolate) and 0.7% (bittersweet), mainly in the form of caffein. Caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline (in tea) are chemical compounds with closely related structures and similar pharmacological properties. They are all members of the class of compounds known as methylxanthines. They occur in many common food plants, such as coffee, tea, cocoa, mate (a South American drink), and cola.

Cocoa is finely pulverised de-fatted, roasted CACAO kernels, to which natural and artificial spices and flavours may be added. It is commercially manufactured by pumping hot CHOCOLATE liquor (semi-liquid ground cacao kernels) into hydraulic cage presses where, under extreme pressure, part of the fat, or cocoa butter, is removed. The fat content of cocoa varies from less than 10% to 22% or more for breakfast or high fat cocoa.

YES! One cup of Central Chocolate Milk is an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D as well as the other essential nutrients found in white milk. One cup of Central 1% Chocolate Plus milk provides 40% of your recommended daily intake of calcium!