By michael - March, 10th 2014

Dark chocolate is loaded with nutrients that can positively affect your health. Made from the seed of the cocoa tree, it is one of the best sources of antioxidants on the planet. Studies show that dark chocolate (not the sugary crap) can improve health and lower the risk of heart disease. Studies also shows that eating a small amount of dark chocolate two or three times each week can help lower your blood pressure. Dark chocolate improves blood flow and may help prevent the formation of blood clots. Eating dark chocolate may also prevent arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Except in the case of dark chocolate.

Sure, chocolate’s exquisitely decadent. But its primary ingredient, cocoa, has triple the antioxidants of green tea, helps reduce cholesterol and blood pressure, and improves insulin sensitivity.

Dark-chocolate bars — whether plain or spiked with ingredients like sea salt, bacon, nuts, and cherries — are now widely available. But as chef Jason French recently told Bon Appétit, “If you let go of what your preconception of chocolate is — which for 99.9 percent of the people is a candy bar — it becomes another culinary weapon [like cumin or butter] in your larder.”

Alice Medrich, who is credited with bringing the chocolate truffle to the United States in the 1970s, says that when you taste chocolate without all the sugar, you become aware of its deep, earthy, nutty, and fruity flavors. She compares chocolate to wine and says that, like …

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