Kosher Chocolate in Israel - short intro with some Hersheys

I am restarting to my blog to find the best kosher dark chocolate around the world. For the next three weeks I am in Israel, a beautiful country filled with some of the most delicious and appetizing kosher foods. Chocolate is never lacking in every venue in this country, especially in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, my two destination cities.

But I must regress to the last few months and a shout out to HERSHEYS SPECIAL DARK CHOCOLATE KISSES.

http://www.hersheys.com/kisses/products.aspx#/KISSES-SPECIAL-DARK-Mildly-Sweet-Chocolate

I discovered Special Dark kisses back in January when I was going to LA and wanted to have my dark chocolate. Forget snacking on carrot sticks and fruit, dark chocolate is definitely the best. These chocolates are so good and small enough to carry around. If you're switching to dark, pick these up.

So I am excited to start my quest in Israel for the best chocolate here. It is Passover soon so there will then be Kosher for Passover chocolate. And this country does use a lot of sugar but its usually non-refined and ingredients are less tempered.

For the Love of Kosher Dark Chocolate

I don't remember when I started eating chocolate but I know I was very young. Born in South Africa, Cadbury chocolates dominate the market, coming from Switzerland, and, thank G-d, even 20 years ago were kosher. Dairy Milk, Fruit and Nuts. Peppermint, Crunchies, Aero, Smarties. My childhood was filled with tennis as soon as I could hold a raquet, swimming I remember around age three when I jumped into my great aunt's pool, and the most divine goodies. My grandmother and one of my aunts are fantastic chefs and bakers. My grandmother would make her signature Rolli-polli for us every time we visited. My aunt made us our birthday cakes with unbelievable amounts of icing. She also made my brother's bar mitzvah cake and shipped it all the way from South Africa to Houston. South Africa also, for reasons unknown, sells Strawberry Rice Crispies, the most delicious cereal you will ever have. 

So in America, there is always the search for the best and in my case now, the most divine kosher dark chocolate. Recently I decided to change my life- what I eat, how I exercise and what I focus on. The inspiration was breaking my foot and being mistreated by the first doctor. Six months later I am finally healed with life lessons on trusting one's gut feeling even when self-medicating without a medical degree, and always getting a second opinion. 

So I am now swimming, biking and lifting weights to regain the strength in my entire body and especially my right foot. So I decided that I wanted to take all the different anti-oxidant superfoods and incorporate them into my diet and see what happens.

I have decided to share my experience with others because I realize now how I wasn't always taking care of myself, especially my feet, my bones and my body. So now I am in every way possible.

Here's the regiment and then we will get to the fun part! The search for the best kosher dark chocolate!

Calcium and two kosher Fish Oil supplements in the morning. Calcium, one kosher Fish Oil Supplemt and a multi-vitamin at night.

Quarter cup of Pomegranate juice. I buy the cheap brand. I used to buy POM Wonderful but it's insanely over priced and now the generic brands taste great.

I'm waiting to get my Acai powder I ordered from Amazon Thunder! Will update.

So this is the main thing that I have changed. No processed food and basically a Gluten-Free diet. I'm not crazy though so here and there I do have, like chocolate of course. But in general I'm eating food the way it's made. It's lots of fruit and vegetables, fish, meat, chicken, eggs, oatmeal, beans, cottage cheese, milk.

Almonds and cashews. 10 of each a day. I was having just almonds but now I'm having a mix. Raw of course.

Cap of olive oil every day, usually in a salad at night.

And most importantly, 2 squares of dark chocolate every two days.

So begins my dark chocolate affair and the search for the best kosher dark chocolate. I am in search of chocolate with the highest % of cocao and with the finest and purest ingrediants.

So let's begin!

The first bar I bought on Sunday from Shop Rite in Englewood, New Jersey.

(1) ENDANGERED SPECIES CHOCOLATE (www.chocolatebar.com)

I bought the All-Natural Extremely Dark Chocolate which is 88% cocoa and was the highest grade from the selection of all the chocolates offered. It is gluten free, vegan and kosher. I paid ($) + tax/ On the website one bar is $2.99 + $6.95 basic shipping. I guess I'll never order just one online. There's a Black Panther on the wrapper.

The website says they source select, organic cocoa through the San Carlos family of farmers in Sacha, Ecuador. And they reference the Ivory Coast in Africa.

This is what the company says about their commitment to the world:

Endangered Species Chocolate confirms that all beans used in its products are purchased from family-owned properties where the income benefits the community.  10% of our net profits are donated to fund species and habitat conservation efforts. 

KASHRUT: Endangered Species Chocolate products are certified kosher-dairy by Orthodox Union.

So this chocolate is pretty good for 88% cocoa. There's a sweetness to it that's not too sweet but not sour at all. It's so good. There's a bit of an after taste. This is probably a good baking chocolate of course. But yeah, I like it. Since as of now I have nothing to compare it to, we'll leave it at that. Ill try and develop some sort of a rating system once I have tried a few more.