Sweet-tasting chocolate, without sugar??

[(m)eat to live]

I have no idea where to post this, so mods, feel free to move it.

There is a lady that lives near my mom who sells chocolate made from cocoa beans and salt, and that's it. The lady swears up and down that there is no sugar, sugar subsitute, or sweetener of any kind, that it's the special blend of cocoa beans that make it taste good. I tried one, expecting it to be very dark and bitter. It tastes like semi-sweet chocolate (albeit, not very good quality, but still.) I simply cannot understand this. My brain cannot wrap around it. My tongue says sugar is present, but supposedly, there is no sugar. This sounds ridiculous, right??

Okay, so I understand that a Gala apple is significantly sweeter than a Granny Smith, yet they are both apples. But naturally sweet cocoa beans? A secret blend that makes them taste like semi-sweet chocolate, that NO other chocolatier has ever discovered? I'm calling BS. This lady is either a liar or a genius.

And yes, I think these would provoke an unhealthy psychological response if I actually believed that there wasn't any sugar in them. But I just don't believe it. I cannot believe it. Anyone who has ever eaten a spoonful of cocoa powder as a kid, thinking it would be delicious, would never believe it. So I refuse to eat any more of them.

So I guess my real question is... is there a way to prove it? Can I have it analyzed or something? Is there a company that does that? I might be willing to pay to have it done, because if she's telling the truth, my mind will be totally blown and I want to invest in her genius product. If she's lying, then she's actually putting people's health in danger by claiming this chocolate is safe for diabetics.

[gatork]

Does this lady make the chocolate herself? If so, maybe you could ask for a "tour" of overview of how she makes it?

I've eaten a lot of chocolate in my life, and cocoa beans + salt seems way too good to be true.

[CAK911]

I recently read this blog post about someone having some allegedly low carb bread tested -- it includes linnks to the companies that did the testing: http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/julian-bakery-customer-tests-low-carb-bread-claims-requests-they-immediately-cease-sales/14568

It might be expensive, though.

[kshacklett]

My only guess would be that something could taste sweet to you, personally, as you've been on the whole30. About halfway through, I had some pure pumpkin, and it tasted super sweet! However, if everyone thinks it's sweet, I'm going to doubt it.

[Kirsteen]

I'm curious. Before W30 I used to make a lot of homemade chocolate from raw cacao paste and cacao butter. I never added sugar or sweetener but I used to chop dried fruit and nuts into it. Without that, there was no way it tasted sweet. As you said, even if it is sugar free it would definitely for me be SWYPO. Keep us posted if you do find out more.

[lulucandoit!]

I have some homemade, unsweetened chocolate in my pantry. It is from a trip to Ecuador. While we there, we stayed at a cacao farm where we harvested organic cacao and roasted, ground up, and kneaded already-dried cacao into blocks of chocolate. It is heavenly stuff, but it is in no way sweet. Of course I haven't tried it since doing W30...but I digress! I will not try it until I am done.

Are you in a location where this woman could be growing her own cacao? If not, I would have serious doubts. A cacao bean that was naturally sweet after roasting would be a hotly sought-after commodity.