Today is National Dark Chocolate Day in the US. What is your favorite dark/bittersweet chocolate? Bonus points if it doesn’t contain excessive heavy metals. 
I’m pretty picky about the % of cocoa. About 60-65% is my, um, sweet spot. I find 70% to be too bitter. Below 60% starts to get too wimpy. Lately I’ve been consuming a lot of Chocolove Rich Dark Chocolate, which is at 65%.
My wife and I are pretty partial to Trader Joe’s 72% cacao Belgian bark chocolate bars.
I was also a Trader Joe’s dark chocolate addict. Help’s I have a Trader Joe’s within walking distance of my building.
Was …
Wouldn’t you know it, Trader Joe’s 72% Cacao and 85% Cacao were on the Consumer Reports bad list for high lead and high lead+cadmium, respectively. Other brands like Lindt, another former favorite, are on that list. I can live without eating metals used in batteries. But I have other addictions to fall back on, fortunately. Ice cream … now we’re talking.
I wonder if that’s why they were off the market for a while a little while back.
Seattle Chocolate Dark Sea Salt Toffee Truffle Bar…
Dark Chocolate is rich in copper. I hear it’s good for the heart 
I think the Pound Plus Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds (55% cacao) also disappeared, or at least my wife couldn’t find it during her most recent visits to Trader Joe’s.
My wife and I are partial to the Trader Joe’s dark chocolate (with almonds) as well. I saw the Consumer Reports study about contaminants to. We are going to finish the pack and consider our options.
Maybe we can put the Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar over the P20 display to improve sound! I’m sure it’s cheaper than the 3m 7050 sheets.
Schaffer Berger 70%, Valrhona Oriado, Callebaut 815 or 60-40-38, or the two always reliable Ghirardelli and Lindt.
I plan to try out some Valrhona. Unfortunately, the stuff is expensive. Not as expensive as 3m 7050 sheets, but close.
Great stuff. They make a number of bittersweet bars, with different tasting and acidic notes. Their baking chocolates are wonderful.
How could I have forgotten about Guittard? 
Another fantastic choice!
I like all kinds of dark chocolate, usually prefer 60 percent or so, but this is the one that I courted my wife with, brought it over the first time I made dinner for her at her home and had to bring it over every time after that and it’s always in our pantry:
OldTown Fort Collins has a shop that specializes in “'bean to bar” single-origin daaaark chocolate. They ship.
Their website is undergoing a revamp, but the order page is up. Take a look . . .
I wonder what constitutes “high” and how it compares to any known, standard exposure/toxicity concerns?
Curious that a food product could be sold in the U.S. with a material amount of “toxic metals” content…
