Hi,
At present I am just a consumer, though an obsessive one. I might be interested a chocolate business in the future, but for now I am just having fun.
Best,
Foodie Doodie
Thanks to both of you. I had been scratching my head about this for years, but had only recently thought to find some folks to compare notes.
I am a science nerd, so understanding that the consensus on migraines and chocolate was no biggie. I even get the conclusive "proof" is elusive. But the fact that certain bars, even in small amounts, seemed to drive me around the bend were what peaked my interest. I wondered if there was anything unique about their chemistry that might point into certain directions.
First, as far as caffeine is concerned, I am not really sure how to proceed. I drink coffee with little issue, unless I have a lot and then stop and get a withdrawl headache. But I know from my experiences with coffee that the molecules are somewhat different among different plants: kola nuts, yerba mate, tea, and even arabica versus robusta coffee all vary in how their xanthinealkaloid effect the CNS.
The chart Lowe provided was interesting. If anything, it pointed to cocoa solids as potential culprits. I'd have thought that cocoa butter would be cheaper, but perhaps the use of large amounts of solids in relatively inexpensive bars leads to low quality solids being used? I realize that 'cheaper' is almost totally meaningless, since bean variety, growing, and processing are all factors in the final product.
And I still hold out the prospect that there are additional flavorings added to these bars that are the true culprits.
Thanks for humoring me. Understand that chocolate love can be pretty painful for some of us some of the time!
I should preface this by saying that migraine triggers are personal, so I might just be describing my own condition.
As a chocolate lover, I am vexed by the fact that some dark chocolates seem to be the sure path to migraines. I was wondering if anyone had any insight into what makes them that way. Oddly, for me certain brands and products are very, very likely to cause them while others do almost nothing. I know at some level these numbers are marketing, but I have found this variation among even the highest cacao chocolates.
The worst for me are very high cacao (85%) from more mass-market brands: Lindt, Cote d'Or, and Endangered Species. All but the smallest amounts of these will make me very ill. Whereas I can eat huge amounts of other brands, in either higher or lower cacao concentrations and I will be fine. Furthermore, there are flavors in common withthese bars that seem related and kind of tip me off to a potential migraine.
I wonder if anyone here who knows cocoa processing well can point to any ingredients or whatever that are problematic. My thoughts are that commercializing a high cacao % (again, I know it's marketing) at a low price point means some things are done that render the chocolate inedible to folks like me. Maybe vanilla, maybe agents to bind the bar, perhaps the high cacao means that hide their worst beans in them?
Anyway, just wondered if anyone had any ideas.
