A journalist from Canada.com was at my Cote d'Or chocolate tasting in Toronto last week and posted a lovely article about chocolate today. In addition to giving a nice rundown of chocolate's benefits (health and otherwise), she also talked a bit about the tasting itself. According to me as quoted in this article, "chocolate is like a story." And indeed it is - there is a beginning that starts with the aroma and the first few seconds as the chocolate melts on your tongue. There is a middle that is made up of the changing flavors and developing textures of the chocolate as it continues to melt. And there is an end, which stretches way beyond the point when the chocolate has totally melted into the realm of aftertaste, which is an integral part of the tasting experience.

And on a related note, the article also reports that chocolate can help you score significantly higher on a standardized scale of sexual functioning. (Who knew that there was such a scale?)

Check out the article here.

A new study in Germany published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association has added to the pile of data regarding the potential health benefits of chocolate. This study focused on chocolate and low blood pressure, and has spurred a flurry of news coverage. The overall conclusion seems to be that a small amount of dark chocolate (around 6 grams, equivalent to somewhere around a square inch of chocolate from a standard size chocolate bar) is enough to make a positive impact. Here's an excerpt from the New York Times:

The new research from Germany adds to mounting evidence linking dark chocolate with health benefits, but it is the first to suggest that so little may suffice.

Volunteers for the study ate just over six grams of dark chocolate a day for almost five months – one square from a German chocolate bar called Ritter Sport, equal to about 1.5 Hershey's Kisses. People who ate that amount ended up with lower blood pressure readings than those who ate white chocolate.

So a (small) piece of chocolate a day may just keep the doctor away... Here's a short round-up of articles I've seen about the study this week:

New York Times - For a short synopsis of the conclusions
US News & World Report - For a more indepth look at the study itself
ABC News - For an even more indepth look + some medical background