Halloween is just around the corner, and that means one thing – treats for everyone! All it takes is one trip to the grocery store to see that this time of year is when candy companies pull out all the stops. The selection is impressive, but at times it can seem like the same old thing every year. While children may be satisfied with the candy basics every Halloween, some adults may want to spice things up. Luckily, there are some great alternatives to traditional treats like basic chocolate bars and candy corn. So take a look and feel free to use these tips for your next Halloween party!
Perhaps the candy most associated with Halloween is the plain milk or dark chocolate bar. When you take your children out trick or treating, they are bound magic boom bars to come home with enough chocolate to last them for months. However, the basic chocolate bar can get a bit boring if you eat it day after day, just to get rid of supply. Thankfully, there are many great options out there if you want to get away from the ordinary. One of these options is a painted chocolate bar. These bars take traditional flavors found in chocolate truffles and put them into a gourmet chocolate bar. In addition, they are painted, which makes them an even better fit for your upscale Halloween party. A quick search can come up with many more alternatives for your classic chocolate bars, so there really is no excuse for you to stick with tradition if it getting a bit too traditional for you.
Candy corn is another Halloween staple that you cannot escape this time of year. However, for many people years of candy corn consumption has taken its toll and they had enough! For these people there are more choices than you think. You can either choose to go with a premium version of the classic candy corn flavor, or excite your palette with new flavors. Does blueberry candy corn sound appealing? If so, search it out online and you will find it available at both local and national suppliers. Imagine your friends’ surprise when they taste it. It could blow them away!
Many folks thoroughly enjoy a dark chocolate bar as opposed to a milk chocolate bar. However, there are also probably many more people that enjoy the milk chocolate instead too. This is probably due to the distinctly different taste that is somewhat more bitter and more prevalent in dark chocolate than in milk chocolate. Of course, the personal taste preference would also probably have something to do with this too. It is relatively doubtful that it is simply and primarily for the potential health benefits that are said to be distinct to dark chocolate and it is probably more aimed at the taste.
Dark chocolate has been studied for possible and potential health benefits that are closely related to the heart. It has been said that this is due to the flavoniods and their active ingredient epicatechin.
There was a study that was done by the University of California, San francisco, School of Nursing in which the Dove Dark chocolate was the primary study. The American Cocoa Research Institute provided these for this specific study. Some had these flavonoids and some had the flavonoids taken out. They used twenty one otherwise healthy people and split them into two groups. Each group would eat one point four ounces of this chocolate a day. The exception was that one group had flavonoids and one did not. After two weeks, these people were subjected to testing to explore their blood vessel dilation and found that the people that had the flavonoids had better blood flow and blood vessel function. These studies were published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
Does this prove anything about the dark chocolate bar? It may be that considering the extended amount of flavonoids that are in dark chocolate does aid in the prevention of blood clots which subsequently can lead to heart attacks. And, considering that the cocoa plant is just that, a plant, it may. Of course, by simply eating dark chocolate daily will not keep one healthy. One must also eat right as well as exercise in order to reap the benefits of a healthy regime. And, when doing this, one must certainly limit the amount of dark chocolate that they intake. Fore, any type of chocolate is loaded with fats and sugars as well as high in calories and large amounts will certainly defeat the purpose.
