Despite chocolate and drinking chocolate being popular, only artisan companies seem to pay proper wages (cocoa farmers often are paid very little in the poorest countries). From the Aztec word for ‘xocoatl’, commercial chocolate bars are only around 150 years old, with sugar added as cocoa is too bitter (white chocolate is cacao butter). Most chocolate bars add refined sugar and palm oil.
Avoid caffeine for pregnancy/nursing. Keep chocolate away from pets, due to unsafe ingredients (cocoa, nuts, salt, dried fruits, xylitol). If ordering line, use a letterbox guard. Read more on food safety for people & pets.
Pure Heavenly was founded to help a family’s food intolerances, but after many kitchen experiments, this is now a major brand with many flavours including mint, orange and salted caramel. Free from palm oil, gluten and soy, these bars includes a best-selling salted caramel bar with soy cream. The ‘silk’ bar is reminiscent of a traditional dairy milk chocolate bar. The low-sugar bars use a special blend of erythritol and inulin (from fruits and vegetables) and a tiny amount of sucralose to mimic the top notes of sugar.
The range includes:
- Salted caramel
- Orange
- Mint
- Coconut
- Strawberry
- Raspberry
- Cherry
- Ginger
- Sea salt
- Coffee
Packaging is complicated for chocolate (and coffee) as contents must be sealed to avoid spoilage. Ideally choose paper or tins (some ‘biodegradable packaging’ is made with flammable eucalyptus trees – Spain and Portugal are already banning new plantations, due to wildfires).
award-winning vegan chocolate from Nottingham
Luisa’s Vegan Chocolate (Nottingham) pays cocoa farmers up to 65% more than average. This is helping families to earn incomes from growing cocoa (a ‘peace crop’ that can be grown in identical farming conditions to illegal drug crops). The range includes:
- Double hazelnut crunch
- Hazelnut ‘mylk’ chocolate
- Choc-oat-late oat milk
- Casho-late with orange
- Wild-rose infused chocolate
- Gingerbread chocolate
- Advent calendars
artisan vegan chocolate from Gloucestershire
Coco Caravan (Gloucestershire) offers handcrafted organic vegan chocolate, sweetened with coconut blossom nectar. The range includes small-bite bars. Crafted by a gifted chocolatier, these chocolate bars are grouped in a way similar to wine, telling you where the cocoa is from, rather than ‘flavours’. The range includes chocolate bars sourced with cocoa from:
- Brazil
- Guatemala
- Mexico
- Colombia
- Jamaica
- Guayaquil
- Cuba
- Ecuador
- Peru
The company also makes bean-to-bar specials that support heirloom cacao growers, and offer flavoured chocolates including:
- Sweet orange
- Hazelnut currant
- Coconut milk
- Chai dark chocolate
- Fully minty
- Tamari almond
- Date caramel
And even offers boxes of ‘fruit in dark chocolate’:
- Dark dates
- Sweet figs
- Chocolate plums
And a chai chocolate drink mix, to make a comforting hot drink!
coconut-sweetened raw organic chocolate
Raw chocolate is a bit healthier, but very expensive. For a unique treat, it’s worth trying. It does taste different, but is not quite so addictive! Raw Halo is made with coconut and lucuma (a superfood that tastes like maple). Produced in a social enterprise, the range is packed in aluminium foil and paper, which are both widely recycled. The range includes:
- Plain
- Salted caramel
- Orange
- Mint
- Raspberry
- Mylk chocolate (vanilla, pink salt, salted caramel, hazelnut truffle)
Mr Popple’s (raw) organic vegan chocolate
Mr Popple’s Chocolate is made with all organic ingredients, and no palm oil. The cacao is grown organically. The cacao used for these bars use agroforestry techniques to let cacao trees grow inside, so protecting Amazon rainforests. Made with minimal ingredients, the Pure Peruvian bar has just one ingredients, and even the most complex vegan Mylk chocolate bars have just 6 ingredients. Free from refined sugar, these bars are sweetened naturally with coconut sugar, yacon syrup (tastes like caramel) or lucuma powder (a superfood that tastes a bit like maple shortbread). The range includes:
- Creamy mylk
- Dark mylk
- Europhic orange
- Pure Peruvian (dark)
Limited editions
- Minty mylk
- Amarillo chilli
- Creamy orange
Packaging is complicated for chocolate (and coffee) as contents must be sealed to avoid spoilage. Ideally choose paper or tins (some ‘biodegradable packaging’ is made with flammable eucalyptus trees – Spain and Portugal are already banning new plantations, due to wildfires).
luxury vegan organic chocolates from Norfolk
If you’re after a traditional ‘box of chocolates’, Booja Booja (Norfolk) sells luxury versions in beautiful gift boxes, illustrated by Persian artists from a social enterprise in Kashmir. This gives employment to a declining papier mache industry, and the company also makes luxury vegan Easter eggs. Most artists work from home in cold Himalayan winters, giving them a way to financial support themselves, when unable to travel. The range includes:
- Hazelnut crunch
- Almond salted caramel
- Chocolate orange
- Chocolate salted caramel
- Fine de champagne
- Around midnight espresso
- Rhubarb & vanilla fool
- Salted caramel mocha
- Toffee strudel
- Rum sozzled sultana
- Stem ginger
- Cherry cognac
- Cherry bakewell
- Raspberry & ginger gin
chocolate loglets
- Yuletide spice
- Cherry cognac
- Ginger toffee
- Chocolate orange
- Hazelnut crunch
- Salted caramel mocha
oat milk chocolate to help artists
Arthouse Unlimited Oat Milk Chocolate (above image is for reference only, offer is no longer valid) is made with ethically-sourced sustainable cocoa and wrapped in foil and encased in a reusable envelope. The packs are beautifully illustrated by artists with complex neuro-diverse and physical support needs, providing them with jobs and income, with all profits helping this wonderful nonprofit.