Walden Farms Chocolate Sauce: Are they Too Good to Be True?

If I had a dime for every diet product that promised full flavor with little to no calories, I could afford to build myself a mansion out of gold-plated Diet Coke cans. With all of the money that gets poured into advertising campaigns for products designed to let consumers feel like they're indulging without damaging their diets, one would think that companies could spare a little cash to engineer finer flavors. Having been disappointed with dozens of flavorless fat-free products in the past, I was naturally skeptical when I ran across Walden Farms Chocolate Syrup in my local grocery store.

Despite any doubts I had, though, it was hard to ignore - the package proudly declared "No Carbs, Sugar Free, Calorie Free" in bold lettering, so I decided to give it a closer look. Sure enough, the nutrition facts panel was lined with zeros, the only exception being sodium, which at 35mg per serving comprised one percent of the recommended daily allowance. Still, I couldn't understand how anything remotely related to chocolate could have zero calories, so I inspected the ingredient list.

This move didn't really provide that much of a benefit though, as it read: Triple Filtered Purified Water, Defatted Cocoa Powder, Caramel Color, Natural Flavors, Cellulose Gum, Sucralose, Salt, Potassium Sorbate (to Preserve Freshness), Vanilla Flavor, Lactic Acid, Xanthan Gum. However, the package did admit it contained "trace calories," which was fine with me, as long as it didn't taste like it had nothing in it.

The first pleasant surprise to come with this product was its price. At just over three dollars, the Walden Farms syrup was similar in cost to its sugar-laden Hershey's rival. Such a bargain seemed outrageous, as manufacturers usually take advantage of the lack of calories as an excuse to inflate the price. While I was impressed that it didn't dent my wallet too much, I wanted to make sure it was actually worth buying before I got too excited.