I got a kick out of today’s article at Fooducate. The world knows a good thing when they taste it: chocolate pairs nicely with coconut. Yes indeed, it does. But sometimes, the application of this knowledge is a pitiful shadow of the real food available to us. Take the Coconut M&Ms in limited release. It’s not bad enough these little addictive gems are full of almost certainly GMO soy, corn and sugar and the colorful candy shell is a witches brew of nine—count ‘em nine—food colorings. Worst of all? The coconut flavor is derived from artificial flavors.

What artificial flavors? Gamma nonalactone, which is an aldehyde, is used in coconut, peach, apricot, vanilla, maple, honey and chocolate flavors. It is created most inexpensively in China and Thailand and imported to the U.S. for use in flavorings. Delta lactones, another constituent of coconut flavoring is derived from corn and adjusts the pH of many of our processed foods. It’s handy for preventing listeria and other pathogenic bacterial growth. It’s also handy for killing termites, as it weakens their immune system until disease can take over their colony. Nice.

Real coconut, on the other hand, has so many positive benefits it’s hard to list them all (but this website has done a pretty good job of gathering links.) It’s heart healthy, it’s antimicrobial, it helps your body get to and maintain a healthy weight, it fights cancer and diabetes, it helps your body assimilate the vitamins in your food…the list goes on and on.

Real cocoa could lower blood pressure and help heal damage to the heart’s arterial walls. Of course, this study funded by Mars (makers of M&Ms) and the American Heart Association (the folks who tell us to eat margarine instead of butter) is suspect solely on the basis of “follow the money.” However, if you choose to partake of some delicious cocoa (just in case wink, wink), it needs to be combined with healthy, fresh fats and sugars in moderation.

So, if you like chocolate and coconut together, why don’t you whip up a batch of this Chocolate Candy from Kelly the Kitchen Kop? It’s got good, healthy REAL coconut oil and cocoa, and just a touch of sweetness from real maple syrup. It’s easy and delicious. Or, how about a Mounds Pie for dessert?

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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