Complete Chocolate Guide
Comprehensive analysis of 41444 chocolate products from 257 brands. Compare cacao percentages, understand additives, explore dark vs milk chocolate, and find the healthiest options.
41444
Products Analyzed
257
Brands
9.2
Avg Processing Score
4.1/10
Avg Nutrition Score
Chocolate by Processing Level
Processing Level: 1 out of 4 - Minimally Processed
Level 1
Minimally Processed1787
Simple dark chocolate: cacao, minimal sugar, perhaps vanilla.
Processing Level: 2 out of 4 - Processed
Level 2
Processed11894
Dark or milk chocolate with cocoa butter, lecithin, natural flavors.
Processing Level: 3 out of 4 - Highly Processed
Level 3
Highly Processed10874
Multiple additives, vegetable oils, emulsifiers, or high sugar.
Processing Level: 4 out of 4 - Ultra-Processed
Level 4
Ultra-Processed16889
Highly processed with artificial flavors, colors, and many additives.
Healthiest Chocolate Options
Top-rated chocolate products with minimal processing and better nutrition scores
How to Choose Healthier Chocolate
✓What to Look For
- •Simple ingredients: Best chocolate has 3-5 ingredients - cacao (or cocoa mass), cocoa butter, sugar, perhaps vanilla or lecithin
- •High cacao percentage: Dark chocolate with 70-85% cacao has most antioxidants and least sugar
- •Low processing score: Look for chocolate with processing scores under 4.0 (simple dark chocolate typically scores 1.5-2.5)
- •Real cocoa butter: Quality chocolate uses cocoa butter, not vegetable oils
- •At least 60% cacao: Minimum 60% cacao content for health benefits (70%+ is better)
✗Red Flags to Avoid
- •Vegetable oils: Palm, soy, coconut, or shea oil instead of cocoa butter (indicates lower quality)
- •PGPR: Polyglycerol polyricinoleate used as cheaper emulsifier
- •Artificial flavors: Synthetic flavoring instead of real vanilla or cocoa
- •Low cacao percentage: Milk chocolate (30-40% cacao) or white chocolate (0% cocoa solids) have more sugar
- •Excessive additives: Long ingredient lists with many emulsifiers, stabilizers, and artificial ingredients