The Cacao Reserve products include a chocolate bars, drinking cocoa and truffles with different concentrations of cacao. The chocolate bars are available in milk chocolate and milk chocolate with hazelnuts (35 percent cacao), extra dark chocolate (65 percent cacao) and extra dark with nibs -- the "heart" of the cacao bean -- with 65 percent cacao concentration.
Hershey's line of Cacao Reserve bars will eventually expand to include four additional "Country of Origin" bars, including the "Java, Indonesian" milk chocolate bar with 32 percent cacao and caramel flavors, the "Arriba" bar with 50 percent cacao and herbal flavors, the "Santo Domingo" bar with 67 percent cacao and spice and wine flavors, and the "Sao Tome" bar with 70 percent cacao.
The line includes two flavors of drinking cocoa -- the "Classic Mayan" blend and the "Mildly Spiced Aztec" blend -- that are both made with milk chocolate and natural cocoa, offering natural flavanol antioxidants.
Cacao Reserve also features milk and dark truffles made with real cacao. The bars will retail for $0.99 to $3.29, and boxes of drinking cocoa will sell for $1.98 to $2.49.
"While it's good to see the Hershey Company finally using real cacao in a line of chocolate products, consumers should be warned to watch out for other ingredients that may be present," explained Mike Adams, a consumer health advocate and author of The Seven Laws of Nutrition. "Eating a chocolate bar containing milk fats and refined sugars may nullify any health benefits provided by cacao," he said.
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