I tend to use 85% for cooking and eating at home because I can get brands of that which are relatively “cheap” from the big supermarket where we do most of our shopping and I’m not bothered enough by the slight sugar and milk content to pay significantly more for something that we have so rarely as a treat. If I had more cash to spare I would stick with 90% or 100% cocoa content bars. Lindt do a 90% cocoa chocolate bar which is relatively easy to get hold of in the UK but you often have to hunt about at specialist chocolateries for 100% chocolate (we’ve currently got some in the cupboard from Fortnum & Mason and some from Hotel Chocolat – both were Christmas presents). If you are based in another country you may find there are other brands (Cote d’Or do a divine 100% chocolate which is very smooth on the tongue but I’ve not found it outside Belgium). Green and Blacks do 90% and 100% cocoa content chocolate too. Larger supermarkets (and often not the bottom end budget ones) tend to be the easiest places to get really dark chocolate but you may find that you have to order it online if nowhere you go stocks genuinely dark chocolate.

On the point about dark chocolate (that isn’t 100% cocoa content) still containing sugar and milk solids, it is technically correct that this wouldn’t therefore be paleo. However, most paleo advocates still allow a square or two of dark chocolate as a treat from time to time – just go as dark as you can bear to keep the potential digestive/gut irritants to a minimum. We would never have anything “lighter” than 85% at home now – while 70% is the most easily available dark chocolate in the UK we find it too sweet because the sugar content is too high for our tastebuds. At the other end of the spectrum, 100% can take some getting used to (and working up to, by gradually adjusting your palette to higher cocoa content levels) and a lot depends on the brand – I’ve found that once you are at 100% the skill and method behind how the bar is prepared starts to impact far more heavily on how bitter/crumbly/smooth/dry the chocolate can taste and behave in your mouth, so if you don’t like one it doesn’t mean you won’t like any of them.