What You Should Know Before Buying Vegan Chocolates
Chocolate is something everybody loves, no matter what age they are. Even as a vegan, it's easy to miss out on one of the greatest things in life. But don't worry — you don't have to give up your love for chocolate (and all things sweet) just because you're a vegan. Doing your research makes finding wonderful vegan chocolates that fit your dietary needs and preferences easier. Here are a few things to think about before buying vegan chocolates.
The Different Types of Vegan Chocolate
Vegan chocolates can be broadly divided into two types: dark chocolate, which contains no ingredients produced from animals, and chocolates made using alternative dairy-free milk. Dark chocolates offer the largest percentage of vegan ingredients because no milk products are added. Veganism is undoubtedly possible with 100% cocoa chocolates because they include only chocolate ingredients.
Vegan Chocolate Brands
So, you've decided that you want to try out a new vegan chocolate brand this season! If you're going to check out some different kinds of chocolate this December, here are some brands that we love:
Sweet Vegan
Our first choice is Sweet Vegan. While all their chocolates are vegan, nut-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free, they’re not just for vegans or those with food allergies. They’re for anyone who loves chocolate.
Sweet Vegan chocolates are hand-crafted with fresh ingredients made in small batches with robust flavors. Their dark chocolate bars include flavors like Midnight Passion, Energizing Espresso, Spicy Ginger, Luscious Lemon, Blackberry Gem, and more.
Enjoy Life Foods
Next is Enjoy Life Foods. These guys have an impressive selection of products, including chocolate chips and baking mixes. They even have baking mixes that make it possible to make brownies and donuts without using eggs or dairy—but they taste just as good as their egg-containing counterparts! They also sell ice cream cones (for all your vegan ice cream cravings), snack bars, and even bagel chips!
Gigantic bars
If you're looking for something more classic, go for the Gigantic bars. These guys are fair trade and plant-based, so they'll leave you feeling good about what's going into your mind and body. There are plenty of options, including peanut butter cups, chocolate bars, and more.
The Go Max Go Peanut Butter Cookie Dough bar
Candy bars make great stocking stuffers! The Go Max Go Peanut Butter Cookie Dough bar is an excellent choice. It's a peanut butter-flavored bar with cookie dough inside. It's vegan and gluten-free, and the ingredients include organic evaporated cane juice, organic brown rice syrup, roasted peanuts, organic tapioca syrup, organic peanuts, Fair Trade Certified™ cocoa butter (non-GMO), soy lecithin (non-GMO), organic vanilla extract, and sea salt.
The Equal Exchange
The Equal Exchange brand has chocolate bars made from fair trade cocoa beans and sugar—dark chocolate with almonds, espresso beans, milk chocolate with hazelnut cream, or almonds. You can also get vegan marshmallows from this company!
Vegan Chocolate Ingredients.
When shopping for the best vegan chocolates, you don't have to look for a label that says "certified vegan." Many high-quality chocolates will meet the requirement that they don't have any animal-based ingredients.
Look for chocolates with an ingredient list with minimal, natural components, as this is an excellent and healthy substitute for chocolates made with milk.
Be cautious of hidden components like lactose, whey, and casein, all milk derivatives.
The majority of dark chocolate variants are not supposed to contain any ingredients derived from milk. However, if you see that it has a label that states that it contains more than 0% cholesterol, it is a sign that it contains substances derived from animals.
Vegan chocolates typically contain more cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar, and occasionally more natural plant-based ingredients to give you that melt-in-your-mouth texture. Since there are substitutes for typical dairy-based milk and milk products that are used in chocolate, milk chocolates are also only sometimes non-vegan.
Is all dark chocolate vegan?
That's an interesting question! Most of the time, vegans shouldn't eat dark chocolate because it often has one, two, or more animal ingredients.
Most dark chocolate isn't vegan because it has milk fat, dairy, natural flavoring, and other things that come from animals.
While talking about natural flavorings, we should mention that they should be vegan, but this is only sometimes the case.
If you're a vegan, it's best to assume that most dark chocolate isn't vegan at first glance. Sorry, but it's best to be safe when it comes to chocolate.
How to identify vegan dark chocolate?
Vegan-friendly dark chocolate does exist, although they are relatively uncommon.
Most companies are producing vegan dark chocolate employ only or primarily plant-based ingredients. And for this reason, almost all dark chocolate made from plants includes a vegan label.
Vegan dark chocolate can be easily identified; you must keep an eye out for the vegan label.
Warning: Some dark chocolates contain labels that claim they are plant-based or remarkably similar. Though they might still have traces of animal ingredients, this does not necessarily mean they are entirely vegan.
Chocolate ingredients to avoid
Misleading labels on dairy products could make them easier to sell. Avoid chocolates with these ingredients on the label if you want to find better and healthier chocolates.
1. "Contains milk" or milk-based ingredients like whey, casein, or lactose are some examples.
2. Caramel, toffee, candy, and white sugar.
3. Cholesterol that is found only in animals.
Is Vegan Chocolate Healthy?
Chocolate is commonly thought of as rich and decadent, so it's easy to see why people believe that vegan chocolate can't be healthy. But this couldn't be further from the truth. There are many health benefits to eating vegan chocolates.
Vegan chocolates are a great way to get antioxidants, which help protect your body against cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Antioxidants also positively affect your mood by regulating certain brain chemicals and keeping you feeling more optimistic for extended periods.
There are many other reasons to consider going vegan when shopping for chocolate. You'll be able to avoid the toxic things in chocolate, such as milk fat and lactose, as well as eggs and gelatin. By choosing vegan chocolate, you'll also support cruelty-free practices since no live animals were used to make that chocolate.
How do you know if you can trust a company making vegan chocolate?
We're seeing more and more companies catering specifically to vegans, offering products like vegan cheese, ice cream, bread, and even chocolate. But how do you know if a company is honest when they say their vegan chocolate is "just as delicious" as traditional chocolate?
Well, that's where Sweet Vegan comes in. Founded by a longtime vegan passionate for high-quality treats and bold flavors, Sweet Vegan is dedicated to making honest-to-goodness chocolate that will please even the most discerning palates. Our values are: “We believe in making a difference with chocolate." So how did we accomplish this?
Our handcrafted truffles are prepared with natural, locally sourced, fair-trade ingredients. We work with local partners to guarantee that every component in our chocolates satisfies our strict standards for originality, freshness, quality, and environmental and social responsibility.
No animal products, including milk, cream, or butter, are present in our truffles. Additionally, they are nut, soy, and gluten-free. Nothing interferes with the flavor of healthy, natural ingredients and creamy chocolate.
How to Buy Vegan Chocolates?
The most affordable way to find vegan chocolates is to buy them online. Check out our Sweet Vegan-ictionary on the Home pages for our chocolates.
When buying vegan chocolate, we recommend buying a large bar or a box of whole pieces instead of chocolate by the pound or smaller bars or boxes because these are typically more expensive per pound than larger bars or boxes. Be sure the bar or box specifies "vegan" on its label.
The best way to buy vegan chocolates is to know what you are looking for.
Whether you're a vegan, a health-conscious individual, or someone with interest in reducing your intake of animal products, it's always a good idea to know what you're putting into your body. Even the healthiest people can't eat just anything and expect their bodies to take no repercussions.
Chocolate isn't something that many people think about when they think about vegan food, but there are plenty of brands out there that offer something for everyone. The key is knowing the right things to look for and purchasing from the right company. Sweet Vegan has high-quality chocolates that they offer in many different ways, whether as gifts or personal treats. Visit our online store today at www.sweetvegan.nyc or call us at 917 - 334 - 3636 for more information about our product line!