With a 4000-year-old history and a universally-adored flavour, chocolate really is the food of the gods.
Happily, chocolate lovers with vegan or plant-based diets have more opportunity than ever to indulge their sweet tooth, with dark and vegan chocolate products offering a wealth of chocolatey goodness to explore.Let’s dive taste buds-first into the wonderful world of chocolate.
How is chocolate made?
Like all good things, it takes time! The meat from cacao beans (extracted from the pods of cacao trees) is ground down until it separates, producing a liquid known as chocolate liquor and a fatty cacao butter. The liquor is further processed until it forms cacao solids. The richer and more bitter your chocolate of choice, the higher the percentage of cacao solids. As a rough guide, dark chocolate contains upwards of 50% cocoa solids, while milk chocolate has between 10-50%.
Vegan chocolate
The good news for vegan chocolate fans? Both cocoa solids and cocoa butter are 100% vegan! In fact, most dark chocolate contains just cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar, making it a great treat for vegans or those embracing a plant-based lifestyle. Just be sure to check the list of ingredients before indulging. Vegans will want to steer clear of animal-derived ingredients including milk, milk solids, casein or whey – though these are usually only found in milk chocolate.
Hand crafted from wholesome ancient grains dipped in decadent chocolate, Kez’s Gluten Free Choc Golden Snaps are a delicious vegan snack the whole family will adore.
The health benefits of chocolate
Have you heard of flavanols? Then it’s time you got acquainted! These nifty plant chemicals found in cocoa have a host of scrumptious health benefits, from reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes to lowering blood pressure. That’s right – in moderation, chocolate is actually good for you!
If all this talk of chocolate has tickled your taste buds, jump into our shop to explore our range of decadent Gluten Free and Vegan snacks.