4 Better for You Chocolate Treats
Let’s face it, despite the antioxidants in chocolate, the real reason we eat chocolate is that it tastes good, not because it’s good for us. But it’s impossible to ignore that eating sugary treats can be problematic. According to the Centers for Disease Control two out of five Americans struggle with obesity, more than 140 million have type-2 diabetes or prediabetes, and on average, Americans consume a whopping 17 teaspoons of sugar per day. A new study from ACS Food Science and Technology showed that probiotic-enhanced chocolate with prebiotics including corn and honey showed higher antioxidants and maintained probiotics for over 125 days. So whether it is less refined sugar, probiotics or prebiotics, chocolate could actually be part of a healthy diet. Here are our picks for high quality chocolate with some added health benefits. Best of all, they all taste great!
Charge chocolate balls
Billed as a ‘Deliciously Energizing Alternative to Traditional Caffeine Sources,’ Southport, CT-based Charge Chocolate released its Caffeinated Chocolate Energy Balls, nationwide, late last year. Each energy ball combines chocolate with 54 mg of caffeine. Eating three balls provides an amount comparable to what is found in a 16 ounce energy drink. Two balls can also substitute for the caffeine in eight ounces of coffee. That’s enough to power through a long workday, workout, or gaming session, while energizing without feeling the ‘crash.’
“Our Charge Chocolate Energy Balls are crafted in Spain, where we source some of the finest chocolate to ensure premium taste and texture,” says Brian Kenny, Co-Founder, President, and Business Development Officer. “Our Southport location serves as our headquarters overseeing U.S. operations and distribution. We’re expanding our lineup this summer, with a new product, produced in California.”
The anhydrous caffeine in these balls is a dehydrated, highly concentrated form of caffeine, extracted from coffee beans and tea leaves. The balls are fast-acting yet lack coffee’s acidity or bitterness.
Maltitol – a sugar alcohol derived from starch sources that include corn, wheat, and potatoes – is Charge’s primary sweetener. Milk chocolate energy balls also incorporate acesulfame potassium, a synthetic, calorie-free sweetener that is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar. And Charge recipes were developed with the help of leading food scientists and chocolatiers.
“Charge Chocolate is a convenient, tasty alternative to coffee or energy drinks,” Kenny says. “Imagine a rich, indulgent chocolate truffle. The texture is velvety, the taste is premium, and the function is simple,” he says adding, “It’s designed for people who want a fast, effective energy boost but don’t want to rely on traditional energy drinks. Our consumers are busy professionals, students, athletes, and gamers, who need sustained energy without the artificial aftertaste of typical energy products.”
Every aspect of Charge Chocolate is crafted with quality and environmental impact in mind, too. “Sustainability is also at our core, from responsibly selecting our ingredients to using packaging made from recycled ocean plastic,” Kenny says. “The company also contributes to wildlife conservation efforts, including Save the Rhino (the International Rhino Foundation).”
In New Jersey, Kushal M. Choksi and his wife, Alak Vasa, co-founded Elements Truffles with a goal to create clean, decadent dark chocolate confections, and drinking chocolate. Each product is free from dairy, refined sugar, soy, gluten, heavy metals, or anything artificial. They use honey for sweetness and plan to add coconut sugar in the future. They also incorporate raw and organic functional superfoods, and flavorful pure essential oils.
Before opening Elements Truffles, Vasa and Choksi were traders on Wall Street. Vasa loved to entertain and considered attending culinary school. That was before she apprenticed without pay at a local patisserie on weekend.
“There I was on my feet, doing hard, manual work,” Vasa says. “And when I left each day there was a big smile on my face. It was a source of joy for me. We both came from Wall Street, but it became an endless chase to get somewhere.”
Born and raised in India, the pair wanted to wrap up Ayurveda in a bar of chocolate – infusing these foods with Ayurvedic spices and providing health benefits while indulging. “Ayurveda was a science that was part of our growing up, such as turmeric milk when I was not feeling well,” Vasa says. “I thought of it as ‘supplements.’ I came to the U.S., and had some health challenges, so we started looking at how we were eating, and I decided to ‘listen to your body.’”
Vasa and Choksi also carefully curate the space where their team makes chocolate, from meditation to high vibrational music playing in the background. “Our state of mind is reflected in everything we do-especially with food,” Vasa says. “It has to do with the state of mind of the chef – the subtle life force energy. And high vibrational music is there to ‘lift’ the environment.”
Element Truffles also incorporates ethically sourced Ecuadorean cacao. “We came across these farmers after meeting someone at a chocolate show,” Vasa says. “We had the opportunity to work with them directly and understand how they were growing the cacao, while making sure our money is going to the people doing the work. We knew this was very high-quality cacao and that we could partially control the entire process.”
And, from the moment Element Truffles opened, Vasa and Choksi have donated 25% of profits to Care for Children, which funds education for children in India. “We’re so grateful for the education we received before immigrating to the United States,” Vasa says.
Krak'd Snacks Peanut Butter Caramel Crunch
Relaxed and amiable, on camera, Willy ‘William’ Kwak founded his Orange County-based Krak’d Snacks in 2019, under the name Keto Krak’d. “But we rebranded in Nov. 2023 because our mission for the community we are trying to serve shifted a little bit,” he says.
“We didn’t want to alienate people who aren’t familiar with or aren’t following the keto diet. The biggest thing [about Krak’d Snacks] is that they’re low in net carbs – a key feature for the keto diet – with low to no sugar.”
The company fulfilled more than 11,000 orders and has expanded to delivery nationwide. Many customers find Krak’d Snacks online, or in small, locally owned stores.
Kwak followed a keto diet himself, for about nine years. And this amateur home cook started turning traditional desserts into keto-friendly desserts. “It took a lot of trial and error, as I learned how to work with different ingredients,” he says. “Then I started taking chocolate making courses and I learned how to make candy bars.”
About 80 percent of Krak’d Snacks incorporate dark chocolate, with some milk chocolate items. “We source organic, single-origin Arriba Ecuadorian cacao beans from a distributor that works directly with farmers,” Kwak says. “The company also aids in sustainable farming practices.”
Additional ‘clean’ ingredients include non-GMO almonds, peanuts, tapioca fiber, and monk fruit extract. Organic Sri Lankan coconut cream stands in as a dairy substitute for Aloha Caramels. Himalayan pink salt is a staple too because it’s got more trace minerals than are found in other salts. “With every ingredient we use, I try to find the healthiest variety available,” Kwak says.
Perhaps most importantly, Kwak found the company’s substitute for traditional sugar – allulose – through a chocolate consultant. “Back then it wasn’t really popular, but I couldn’t tell it wasn’t sugar,” he says. Considered a rare sugar from figs, raisins, and several other foods, allulose has only one tenth the calories of sugar and it does not spike blood glucose. Allulose also promotes satiety.
“When you’re on keto, you’re always making diet sacrifices,” Kwak says. “But we want to make [snacking] a joyful experience. Our goal is to create confections and sweet snacks, which can replace your original guilty pleasures.”
Oobli bars photo credit Lisa Waterman Gray
The unusual company name, Oobli, was inspired by the name of the West African fruit that one of the chocolate maker’s sweet proteins – the Oubli Fruit Sweet Protein – replicates, says Chris Morell, Head of Brand.
“Apes and natives have consumed the berries for a long time, and the fruit gets its sweetness from the sweet protein brazzein, to be specific. It is up to 2,000 times sweeter than sucrose. Our brand name is a fanciful spelling to make it easier to pronounce across languages.”
Morell says although humans are biologically wired to crave sweet foods, our food system incorporates an overabundance of sugar. But sweetening proteins don’t have the same negative impact on the body as excessive sugar, with zero calories and minimal – if any – impact on blood sugar, insulin levels, or gut microbiome. They can also sweeten sodas, baked goods, yogurts, candies and more.
“The world deserves a better-for-you sweetener that actually tastes great and doesn’t include the health downsides of sugar,” Morell says. “Our award-winning [milk and dark] chocolates give consumers the opportunity to try better-for-you chocolates and see for themselves the potential of protein-sweetened treats.
“Oobli sweet proteins allow us to reduce the amount of added sugar [in our chocolates] by as much as 90%. We only use 1 gram of added sugar per serving, compared to comparable chocolate bars that can contain as much as 10 grams or more of added sugar per serving. You only need a tiny amount to replace the sweetness of some of the sugar.”
With “no questions” GRAS [Generally Recognized as Safe] status, Morell says the FDA has confirmed that Oobli's sweet proteins are safe to be used as a sweetener in food and beverages. “We’re the first company in the world to successfully build a platform of multiple sweet proteins, providing the versatility to easily integrate with and help rehabilitate any sweet food or beverage.”
To minimize negative impacts on planetary health, Oobli’s nature-identical sweet proteins result from precision fermentation rather than from growing them as a crop, sparing massive amounts of land, water, and carbon.
Morell emphasizes that Oobli treats are sweet without sacrifice. “Protein-sweetened” is the groundbreaking ‘unlock’ for better-for-you sweets that the world has been waiting for. Stay tuned for exciting announcements about upcoming partners we’re collaborating with, on sweet proteins products.”