Bitter addiction Where to get your cocoa fix in Portland BY BRIAN DUFF
	Where to get it Chocolate XOXOX Wild Oats, $2.60 Dolfin’s 88% Cocoa Greengrocer, $2.70 El Ray 73.5% Cocoa Portland Public Market, Greengrocer, $2.90 Endangered Species Black Panther Wild Oats, $2.59 Green and Black’s 70% Cocoa Hannaford, Whole Grocer, Wild Oats, $3.50 Lindt’s 85% Cocoa Lindt, Maine Mall, $2.50 Valrhona Greengrocer, $4.39

All indulgences are not alike, and desserts can appeal to different parts of our psyche. Ice cream goes straight for the Id. Nestled on the couch, basking in the warm glow of the television as we dig into a carton, the unconquered infant within achieves regressive union with the milky sweetness. Each spoonful’s momentary shock of cold and metal does not so much disturb the reverie as allow the chilly realities of life to be repeatedly melted away by the warmth of the maternal.

Hard and bitter, intricate and intellectual, dark chocolate is the dessert of the super-ego. For those who have successfully negotiated the Oedipal complex and fully integrated civilization’s patriarchal authority, dark chocolate is the only dessert that does not embarrass. There has been a lot of buzz lately about the supposed health benefits of chocolate — flavonoids and free radicals and whatnot. Don’t believe the hype. The Aztecs were sipping hot cocoa when Cortes arrived, and European diseases still wiped them out in a few decades. According to Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs and Steel, Europeans achieved their immunal superiority through several millennia of sustained bestiality (page 196, you can look it up). So if you are looking to prevent diseases of the body, there you go.

The true benefits of dark chocolate are psychological. In a society where no one, starting with the President, will take responsibility for anything, a dessert that reinforces the super-ego is what we all need.

All dark chocolates are not alike. Portland’s shops offer a good variety. We convened a panel to sample the offerings of several. The group consisted of myself and, in keeping with the South American theme, Alberto, Jacqueline, and Ariel Yablon of Argentina, as well as Charo "Cuchi Cuchi" Cestau of Uruguay.

The two best options are Dolfin’s 88% Cocoa (Greengrocer, $2.70), and Lindt’s 85% Cocoa (Lindt store at the Maine Mall, $2.50). These bars are superior both in terms of the quality of the chocolate and the value, as they are among the least expensive bars we tried. Too often in a dark chocolate, the sugars seem to sit on top of the cocoa and obscure it. Dolfin (Belgian) and Lindt (Swiss) have managed to get the modest amounts of sugar they add to be fully integrated with the cocoa. In each case, the sugars are subtle, and the cocoa can develop slowly on the palate. Of the two, the Dolfin is the richer and more interesting. It thickens in your mouth and reveals an almost tannic dryness.

Hannaford’s — where we often end up, let’s face it — offers only one bar that truly aspires to the status of gourmet: Green and Black’s 70% Cocoa (American). It’s also available at Whole Grocer and Wild Oats, and goes for around $3.50. This chocolate has smoky flavor that is not entirely unpleasant, but nonetheless introduces a lingering strangeness. The texture is a little grainy and dry. The cocoa and the sugar seem to be doing battle within the bar.

Aficionados have lately been entranced with Venezuelan chocolate. Locally you can get the El Rey, available at the Public Market’s Spice and Trading Co. and the Greengrocer for $2.90ish. We tried the 73.5%. This chocolate was dusty and woody and the sugar was oddly aggressive. Even worse was the expensive ($4.39, Greengrocer) Valrhona from France. The sweetness had an assaultive saccharine quality and completely obscured the chocolate.

Chocolate bars that save cute animals or offer you love poems violate the entire psychological premise of this column. Nonetheless, Portland is awash in them so we tried two. You can help an animal by buying the Endangered Species Black Panther bar (88%, American, $2.59, Wild Oats), and you won’t do too badly by your palate. It’s a good chocolate, but somehow despite a similar cocoa content to the Dolfin and Lindt, there is less density and richness. The Chocolate XOXOX (65%, American $2.60ish, Wild Oats) had notes of sugar that were jarring and too sharp.

The love poem by Samuel Rogers printed on the wrapper, however, does mention "lips," "breast," and "soft . . . sanctuary," and I found it strangely stirring. Ah, infant bliss, no matter how much we try to deny it, it inevitably pulls us back.

Brian Duff can be reached at bduff@une.edu