The health benefits of dark chocolate and green tea have been extolled in recent years, since both have antioxidants that are beneficial to maintaining a healthy diet.
Citing a study published more than a decade ago in The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry,
the San Francisco Chronicle said "cocoa contains more antioxidants than green tea, with three times as many polyphenols and 12 times as many flavonoids."
Special: 8 Popular Foods Are Drenched in Cancer-Causing Chemicals
"The polyphenols and flavonoids in green tea and chocolate, including epigallocatechin gallate, procyanidin, resveratrol and theaflavin, help keep you healthy by minimizing cell damage from free radicals," according to the Chronicle.
Several other studies also show the beneficial health impact of consuming chocolate and green tea for fighting heart disease and cancer and maintaining cognitive function in older adults.
With chocolate and green tea containing high levels of antioxidant-rich nutrients, green tea is being combined with chocolate to make healthy desserts.
According to Pop Sugar, matcha has historically been used in Japanese tea ceremonies and is a "finely milled green tea powder that today finds its way into mochi, soba noodles, ice cream, candy, and pastries to impart a light tea flavor and intense green hue."
Special: Doctor Reveals Super Foods That Will Boost Your Immunity Now
Matcha green tea chocolate squares are tasty and nutritious and make an antioxidant-rich dessert.
“Green tea powder, or matcha has unique bitter taste to it,” says the Just One Cookbook. “The flavor of ‘matcha’ is quite different from the ‘green tea’ served at Japanese restaurants. Matcha is typically used for making tea at traditional Japanese tea ceremony. This tea tends to be quite thick and very very bitter, but it goes quite well with wagashi, traditional Japanese confectioneries that are very sweet by itself.”
Making the matcha green tea chocolate desserts can be a little on the expensive side, according to Just One Cookbook, if the tea is of "ceremony grade." However, culinary grade matcha works fine for making chocolate desserts with the green tea powder.
This article is for information only and is not intended as medical advice. Talk with your doctor about your specific health and medical needs.
Special: Are You Taking Any of These Prescription Drugs
© 2017 Newsmax. All rights reserved.