Antidote Chocolate Bars Mix Nutrition & Decadence

Antioxidant-rich raw chocolate has a laundry list of purported health benefits. But its chalky texture and bitter taste are best left out to dry.

New York City-based Antidote has found the cure for those issues, mixing half raw and half roasted cacao beans in its bold bars ($16 to $95 for sets of two to twelve bars). The inspired combination thereby maintains the potential health benefits while improving the flavor.

The company sources high-quality cacao in Ecuador, and processes the cacao from bean to bar at less than 115 degrees, so as to maintain nutrients, in a local organic-certified plant to ensure freshness.

In the line's newest creation, the Kakia bar, nuggets of bitter Arabica coffee set in 77 percent dark chocolate are warmed with cardamom. Adventurous nibblers will enjoy the herbaceous Artemis, marrying crunchy almonds with fragrant fennel seeds, as well as the 84 percent cacao Panakeia, sprinkled with lavender and red Hawaiian sea salt.

Antidote makes two completely raw bars; for newbies, the version studded with sweet, chewy dates curbs the cacao's harshness ever so slightly. You may find yourself breaking off square after square until the not-so-bitter end.