WORTH KNOWING - Consumer Reports names top hot chocolate
By The Associated Press Wednesday, November 14, 2007Not thrilled with your hot chocolate mix? Make it with milk instead of water.
During testing of 10 brands of instant hot chocolate, Consumer Reports magazine found that milk covered some of the defects of hot chocolate mixes that otherwise got less favorable ratings.
Overall, the magazine gave the highest ratings to Ghirardelli Double Chocolate mix and Cacao Reserve Mayan Blend by Hershey's, costing 63 cents and 53 cents per serving respectively.
Rated "Very Good" were Swiss Miss Dark Chocolate Sensation and Hershey's Cocoa.
The magazine's testers prepared the hot chocolate according to package directions, which meant mixing it with water for all but Ghirardelli, which called for milk.
The magazine also found that calories count. The varieties with the fewest calories -- Nestle Rich Chocolate and Nestle Milk Chocolate, each with 80 calories per serving -- also were the lowest ranked. Top-rated Ghirardelli had 262 calories.
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