~ Sinful Indulgence ~. Review on Cadbury Bournville

Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you don't need an appointment. -- Catherine Aitken

I was sitting by the window looking at the world go by. The sky was just as grey as my mood. Yes I was feeling blue. The usual dosages of music and a good book failed to raise my spirits. As the last rays of the sun tainted the horizon, I halfheartedly walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. The unopened bar of Cadbury Bournville was peeking at me from behind the loaf of bread. I took it out and walked back to my room.

The sky was a mix of burgundy and orange. I settled down with the bar. I was never a chocoholic as I always found the taste of milk chocolates quite uninteresting. And all the Indian brands that promised of authentic dark chocolates always were a bigger disappointment.

*~ Delving into the depths of the chocolate experience ~

*The dark brown covering of the packet with the picture of a melting chocolate cube looked quite inviting. As I unwrapped the inner metallic red colored foil gingerly, I didn’t have the slightest hint of the surreal and sinful experience I was about to undergo.

I was surprised to see an instruction set printed on the inside of the outer cover on how to eat the chocolate. As if we never had one! But out of curiosity I began to read, the directions were in step format.

Step 1: Take your bar of Bournville and ensure that you are at a location where there is as little disturbance as possible. – Well I was anyway alone at my home.

Step 2: Smell the chocolate first. Inhaling its aroma will awaken your senses and prepare your tongue for tasting the chocolate. – I smelled it and voila! The rich dark tantalizing a lil bitter chocolatey whiff of the bar made me close my eyes...and I could feel that my search for authentic dark chocolate was coming to an end.

Step 3: Snap a piece of this dark chocolate, place it on your tongue and allow it to melt – Ummmm I was savoring every bit of the burst of alternating bitter and sweet flowing down my tongue.

Step 4: Close your eyes and give in to the temptation of the overpowering chocolatey experience as makes you to loose yourself to the heightened ecstasy.

I can bet on the fact that I had never experienced something as divine like this in my entire chocolate eating history.

~ Genesis of the food for the gods ~

The erstwhile gold coast or present day Ghana houses some of the world's finest cocoa plantations. The genesis of this fine dark chocolate lies in the little white flowers cocoa flowers that blossoms in the heart of the Ghana jungles. Growing under the shade of taller trees the cocoa tree is the aristocrat of the forest. This picky tree only flourishes under filtered sunlight where on an average only 5 to 100 flower morph into a cocoa pod. The cocoa pods are then cut to collect the cocoa beans which travel all the way to Bournville, a model village in England, where they are grinded and roasted with utmost care to give each bar of Bournville its characteristic bittersweet taste. The cocoa liquor is the essence of the cocoa bean that imparts the chocolate its intense flavor. Extracted after an elaborate process, pure cocoa butter is added to it. It's then mixed, stirred and cooled to finally transform into the fine dark chocolate that is Bournville.

*~Taste~

For people who have only had milk chocolates, the taste of Bournville might seem a little bitter at first. Also the bittersweet smell might deter you from liking it at the first go. But believe me, if anyone can get accustomed to this acquired taste, then there is nothing better than that, as dark chocolates have an edge over the normal milk-chocolates in terms of health benefits. The chocolate is so rich that two to three cubes of the bar are enough to satiate a chocolate craving for the chocolcohlics.

*~Ingredients ~

Bournville chocolate is made by adding sugar, vegetable fat, and soya as emulsifier into the cocoa; this means that, unlike the regular milk chocolates, its fine for vegans and for anyone who is lactose-intolerant.

*~ Nutritional facts and health benefits of dark chocolates ~

Can you believe such a sweet treat can also be good for you?

Since dark chocolate is made from plants, it contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables. Dark chocolate contains flavonoids , a form of antioxidants (nearly 8 times the number found in strawberries). Antioxidants protect the body from aging caused by free radicals, which can cause damage that leads to heart disease. Flavonoids also help relax blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide, and balance certain hormones in the body, helps you to lose weight and detoxify your body. Studies have also shown dark chocolate to lower bad cholesterol (LDL).

According to European standards, a chocolate must contain minimum of 43% cocoa to be considered as dark chocolate. Bournville contains 44% cocoa so its not the extreme kind of bitter chocolates and can be eaten by anyone. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the more benefits and better nutritional value the chocolate contains. Bournville contains 486.4 Kcal per 100g, along with 4.6g protein, 63.30g carbohydrate, and 27.3g fat.

*~ Have a Bournville when you are blue ~

Chocolate actually stimulates the production of endorphins (the 'feel good hormones') and the release of serotonin (a natural anti-depressant), and has a jolt of caffeine (but not too much), to provide a burst of energy and a mood boost. Hence they can raise your spirits when you feel low.

Contd in comments...