Baking chocolate with brown sugar — TREAT

Munch or Dump rates Baking chocolate with brown sugar by Sucesores De Jose Jesus Restre TREAT — score 43/90.

Casa Luker sells the romance of Colombian 'Cacao Fino de Aroma' — but the first ingredient here is brown sugar, and the vanilla is fake. Four ingredients keep it honest and simple, which is exactly what a traditional chocolate de mesa should be. Melt it, enjoy it, just know you're mostly melting sugar.

Why this verdict

• Brown sugar is the FIRST ingredient — there's more sugar than cocoa in this 'chocolate'
• Only 4 ingredients — a genuinely short, simple list, which is rare and worth credit
• Artificial vanilla flavor in a premium-positioned cocoa product — real vanilla was too expensive, apparently
• Flavoring and texture stabilizers — more formulated than it appears (artificial flavor + soy lecithin)
• Cocoa mass is real whole cocoa — the indulgence is at least built on the real thing

Ingredients (4)

• brown sugar (caution) — Second added sugar in the flavor base.
• Cocoa Mass (safe) — Real chocolate liquor.
• SOY LECITHIN EMULSIFIER (moderate) — Emulsifier that keeps the oil and solids from separating. Common and low-risk, but a sign of engineering.
• artificial vanilla flavor (moderate) — Synthetic vanillin standing in for real vanilla. Not harmful, but a lab flavor rather than the real thing.