Wendyl Wants To Know: Chocolate strawberries - a taste of decadence

Comparing dipping sauce with chocolate melts is a sweet job.

Strawberries are back and suddenly summer is here and all is right with the world. Chances are you will have seen some tempting little pots of dipping sauce in a supermarket to buy along with your punnets.

I can see the convenience of grabbing a little pot if you were off to a picnic but why not simply melt some chocolate and dip your strawberries in that?

So I bought both and compared them.

Delmaine Chocolate Dipping Sauce. $2.49 for 150g

versus

Nestle Dark Chocolate Melts. $4.19 for 375g.

Ingredients ( in order of greatest quantity first)

Delmaine Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Sugar

This is chocolate so you're going to get sugar as the first ingredient. You'll get 14g per 30g serving of this sauce, so that's about half.

Water

This will be to thin it out to a dipping sauce consistency.

Glucose syrup

This is a liquid form of sugar.

Whole milk powder

This will be in here for flavouring and possibly consistency.

Hydrogenated Coconut Oil

Hydrogenation is a process where coconut oil is treated with hydrogen to give it a higher melting point. There is concern that the hydrogenation process leads to trans fats in the coconut oil. Trans fats are a problem because they raise LDL cholesterol or the bad cholesterol but they also lower HDL, which is the good cholesterol.

Cocoa

This is to provide the chocolate flavouring.

Starch (1442)

This is hydroxy-propyl distarch phosphate which is a treated starch. It will be in here to provide texture.

Cocoa Liquor

Cocoa liquor is solid, unsweetened baking chocolate.

Salt

Not too salty - you'll get 46mg of sodium per 30g serve.

Acidity Regulator (339)

This is sodium phosphate which is the salt of phosphoric acid.

Flavour

This will be artificial flavour.

Preservative (202)

This is potassium sorbate which is neutralised sorbic acid.

Nestle Dark Chocolate Melts

Nestle Dark Chocolate Melts. $4.19 for 375g. Photo / Wendyl Nissen

Sugar

This is high in sugar, per 30g serving you will get 16.6g of sugar.

Cocoa

In here to provide the chocolate flavour.

Vegetable fat [Emulsifiers: soy lecithin, 492]

Not sure what vegetable oil is in here. The oil will help to keep consistency when this chocolate is melted. The soy lecithin and sorbitan tristearate (492) will also help.

Milk solids

This is similar to milk powder and will be in here for flavour and texture.

Emulsifier, soy lecithin

As above.

Flavours

This will be artificial flavour.

Salt

Not much salt in here at 40mg of sodium per 30g serve.

My recommendations

It would seem that the dipping sauce has 12 ingredients compared with eight for the chocolate melts. So in order to get the right consistency for the sauce and have it survive in a pottle on the supermarket shelves you need the extra ingredients.

I would prefer not to consume hydrogenated coconut oil because of the trans fats and personally I preferred the taste of the melted chocolate - which doesn't take long and I think the heat adds an extra dimension to the flavour.

Price wise the chocolate melts are a little cheaper.

Highlights

• Dipping sauce has hydrogenated coconut oil which has trans fats.

• Dipping sauce has 12 ingredients, melts have eight ingredients.

• Both have artificial flavour.