When it comes to chocolate-covered treats, Easter is second only to Halloween, but not all those bunnies and eggs on store shelves deserve a spot in any Easter basket. We’ve all had the unfortunate experience of biting into an Easter chocolate that looked promising, only to be disappointed by a waxy, bland, and weirdly crayon-like taste.
Chocolatier Erica Gilmour explains that fillers like palm oil or soy lecithin are often to blame for that chalky texture. Those ingredients are a sign the brand is using cheap stuff instead of trying to create a delicious, creamy confection.
To find the best chocolate this Easter, experts say these are the red flags to watch for while shopping.
- Physical cues - Check out that chocolate bunny with a close visual inspection to make sure it’s not dull, soft or cloudy - signs it could be lower quality. Bill Brown, chief chocolate officer and owner of William Dean Chocolates in Florida, recommends looking for a shiny, almost glossy exterior, which shows it has been properly tempered and that not only looks tempting, it has a smooth, silky texture when you bite into it.
- Ingredients to avoid - Chocolate maker Denise Castronovo warns to steer clear of anything that contains red dye number three, which has been linked to health concerns and has been banned by the USDA, but can be used until January 2027. According to Castronovo, dark chocolate only needs two ingredients: cacao and sugar, and high-quality milk chocolate only has four ingredients: cacao, sugar, cocoa butter and milk, while high-quality white chocolate should only contain cocoa butter, sugar, milk and possibly real vanilla. If sugar is the first ingredient, it’s likely low-quality chocolate and if it has ingredients you’d find in a candle, like paraffin or vanillin, those are cheap fillers that don’t make the flavor better.
- Suspiciously low price - Unless you’re shopping the after-Easter sales, a low price is a red flag with chocolate. “Although you can’t trust that chocolate is good quality because it’s expensive, you can be sure that very inexpensive chocolate is not good quality,” Gilmour explains. “So a low price is an immediate giveaway.”
Source: Huffpost