“Vegan chocolate is the answer, who cares what the question is”

“But don’t you miss stuff…. like chocolate?”

“Um no because I still eat it…”

During the transition from vegetarian to vegan, you get a lot of questions. People always ask me what I can and can’t eat, but one of the most commonly asked questions is “but do you not miss *insert dairy/meat product that I have no desire to eat yet alone miss here*”

I love chocolate – who doesn’t? I am still a human being lol.

OK so here’s the deal: When cacao beans are pressed cold, this removes all of the fat, but saves you all the nutrition. When raw cacao is heated, it becomes cocoa. Unrefined cocoa powder isn’t bad for you, but most of the time it has been tampered with and filled with sugars and dairy before used in chocolate products.

So you need to look for one of 3 things:

  1. Chocolate that contains at least 60% of cacao (all bars of chocolate will tell you e.g 70% cocoa solids)
  2. Vegan chocolate brands – I am obsesed with Pana Chocolate as they have loads of flavors – but seriously there are so many good brands online
  3. Recipes online and get baking

You will probably be surprised to hear that there are so many vegan chocolate options out there, my fav chocolate indulgence is the Lindt Excellence 70% chocolate – SO GOOD. But you don’t have to spend a lot of money – the Bournville chocolate by Cadbury is also vegan for example. Vegan chocolate is available to suit all budgets.

When checking out labels and trying to figure out if your buying a vegan chocolate bar or not – just watch out for milk power/milk fat/butter etc. Tip – the less amount of ingredients the better. Even for non-vegans, the higher the amount of cacao = the higher nutritional value your chocolate has. Raw cacao has so many benefits – why would you want to add a heap of sugar and milk?

I have a few vegan chocolatey recipes on the blog to check out like my Vegan Nutella  and my Vegan Dark Chocolate Orange Rice Cakes. 

Do you guys know of any good vegan chocolate brands? Let me know – I always like trying new chocolate 🙂 

Ok time to go eat chocolate & read – Jess x