One local chocolatier created a product that has as many antioxidants as a pint of blueberries.
"I take one in the morning and one in the evening every single day. It's like a one-a-day vitamin for me," said Choclatique owner Ed Engoron.
A sweet one at that. Engoron is talking about his special creation, Q91.
"If you take a look at one of our little squares, it's equal to about a pint of blueberries," said Engoron.
It's equal in antioxidants that is. Health experts say about an ounce of dark chocolate can do a body good.
"It's one of the health prescriptions that I give that people actually like. One to two squares of dark chocolate a day- high cocoa dark chocolate. It's got to have a lot of cocoa, because that's where the flavanols are found," said Jonny Bowden, a nutritionist and author of "The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer."
Choclatique specializes in gourmet chocolates, keeping with a "less is more" theme.
But there's only four ingredients in there. It's cocoa butter, cocoa mass - or chocolate liquor - a touch of vanilla, and a little bit of sugar.
A bonus to those who watch their sugars, this three-ounce bar contains only 7.5 grams of sugar. That's the equivalent of about two teaspoons. And if you're doing what you should and eating only just one ounce (about a third of the bar), you're getting less than a teaspoon of sugar.
Q91 is Engoron's antioxidant dark chocolate. Cocoa beans roast for hours, not minutes, bringing out flavors uncommon in most chocolate.
"So if you were to take a look at a European-flavored dark chocolate, it's always bitter, brittle [and] grainy. Ours isn't," said Engoron.
But high quality ingredients and longer production time means you'll pay more for it.
Engoron said chocolate bars run around $6.50 for three ounces - that's a 100-gram bar. The Q91 runs a little bit more.
Beyond Q91, there's wine chocolates, dessert chocolates and cocoas as well. Engoron hopes there's something for everybody.
"Chocolate is supposed to be fun. You know you can't say chocolate without smiling," he said.
