What does it really mean to be kosher chocolate? Is it all about ingredients, or about preparation? How do you know if it's kosher? There are many, many kosher dark chocolates out there. Does kosher make them healthier?
OK, there's a trick question in there. Kosher is about both preparation and ingredients. The facility and all the equipment used in preparation, as well as the processes used to create the products, must be inspected, reviewed, and certified to be kosher. Additionally, ingredients of each product must be checked and approved for kosher certification.
Certification
There are a good handful of certifying organizations in the US and around the world. Each manufacturer may be certified by a different organization, and so may be marked with a different kosher certification symbol. These two sites provide pretty good lists of symbols, certifying agencies, etc.:
Products
Many well-known manufacturers produce kosher dark chocolate products, which include Cadbury Royal Dark; Hershey Bliss dark and Special Dark; many Godiva and Dove products; everything from Chocolove, Daboga, Lake Champlain, and Ghirardelli; and After Eights, one of my all time favorites. And there are plenty, plenty more!
Health Benefits?
Is kosher dark chocolate any healthier than non-kosher? Not necessarily. But many people seek out kosher food because of the extra oversight of ingredients, supervision of preparation processes, inspection, etc. While this benefit might be most pronounced with meat products, there could also be some health or safety advantage to eating kosher.