Timstuff
Avenger
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2004
- Messages
- 19,914
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I know, I know... If you're from across the pond, you're probably laughing at me and saying "LOL! It really took that long?", but really, the quality of chocolate in the US has plummeted so fast recently that I think I've finally had enough-- and when it comes to chocolate, that is not something you're supposed to find yourself saying.
The last time I looked at the back of a good ol' Hershey bar, I almost wanted to burn it, bury it, and jam a wooden cross into the ground above it. The ingredients list was as long as a polygamist's will, and it was full of awful things like high fructos corn syrup and partially-hydrogenated soybean oil, so I might as well be drinking motor oil while I'm at it. I didn't buy the wretched thing, but a co worker recently offered me some peanut butter M&Ms, and I immediately regretted eating them. Not only did the chocolate taste like crap, but the peanut butter did too, probably because it was 90% soy oil.
I am fed up with just how crummy our chocolate has become. Food companies are getting lazy and thrifty, so they're using cheap sweeteners like corn syrup, and potentially toxic fillers like soybean oil. Well tonight, I've decided I've had enough, and I'm finally going to start trying out European chocolate. After checking some reviews, I made an order for some French Valrhona brand chocolate (milk and "noir" varieties), and I'm already thinking about ordering some German chocolate in the near future. It's far more expensive, sure, but the way I see it, chocolate is supposed to be a luxury food anyway. And in the end, I think it's wiser to spend $4 on a candy bar that tastes good than it is to spend 40 cents on a candy bar that can give you brain cancer and diabetes.
This might seem like a stupid thing to be posting a long winded rant about, but I love chocolate, and I am sick of how the ingredient lists on American chocolate bars have been getting longer and longer over the last few years. A few years ago, I loved Hershey bars, but now I hate them, and its because they don't taste anything like how they did before the "soy revolution." Almost all the European chocolates I've looked at have nice, short lists with cocoa products right at the top, which at their very worst might contain some soy lecithin. And really, that's nothing compared to making 90% of a candy bar from soy and palm oils, which is exactly what our crummy yank choco factories are churning out.
The last time I looked at the back of a good ol' Hershey bar, I almost wanted to burn it, bury it, and jam a wooden cross into the ground above it. The ingredients list was as long as a polygamist's will, and it was full of awful things like high fructos corn syrup and partially-hydrogenated soybean oil, so I might as well be drinking motor oil while I'm at it. I didn't buy the wretched thing, but a co worker recently offered me some peanut butter M&Ms, and I immediately regretted eating them. Not only did the chocolate taste like crap, but the peanut butter did too, probably because it was 90% soy oil.
I am fed up with just how crummy our chocolate has become. Food companies are getting lazy and thrifty, so they're using cheap sweeteners like corn syrup, and potentially toxic fillers like soybean oil. Well tonight, I've decided I've had enough, and I'm finally going to start trying out European chocolate. After checking some reviews, I made an order for some French Valrhona brand chocolate (milk and "noir" varieties), and I'm already thinking about ordering some German chocolate in the near future. It's far more expensive, sure, but the way I see it, chocolate is supposed to be a luxury food anyway. And in the end, I think it's wiser to spend $4 on a candy bar that tastes good than it is to spend 40 cents on a candy bar that can give you brain cancer and diabetes.
This might seem like a stupid thing to be posting a long winded rant about, but I love chocolate, and I am sick of how the ingredient lists on American chocolate bars have been getting longer and longer over the last few years. A few years ago, I loved Hershey bars, but now I hate them, and its because they don't taste anything like how they did before the "soy revolution." Almost all the European chocolates I've looked at have nice, short lists with cocoa products right at the top, which at their very worst might contain some soy lecithin. And really, that's nothing compared to making 90% of a candy bar from soy and palm oils, which is exactly what our crummy yank choco factories are churning out.
