TasteTV Gift Guide: 10 Tasty Chocolates for the Vegan

What could be a better gift for the vegan in your life than an offering of artisan chocolate? The answer is “nothing.” Fortunately, there are a large number of vegan chocolates that you can enjoy. Most chocolates that are dark tend to be vegan by nature, and of course anything that says “milk” is probably not.

Modern chocolatiers also go out of their way to make sure that if they truly want something to be vegan (or GMO free, for example), then all of their ingredients meet this criteria.

We’ve taken a sampling of 10 chocolates rated as 4-Stars by the International Chocolate Salon. We recommend you send these gifts quickly, before you eat them.

 

OUR 4-STAR PICKS

  1. Chocolate Calling Chocolate Crunch Bar
  2. Solkiki Chocolatemaker Gran Nativo
  3. Chocolate Calling Peanut Butter Cups
  4. Ex Voto Chocolates and Confections Vegan Passion Fruit in 61% Dark Chocolate Hand Painted Bonbon
  5. Aelan Chocolate Makers Malo dark fine chocolate 70%
  6. Solkiki Chocolatemaker Yigacheffe Coffee
  7. Sweet Alchemy Vegan Selection – 6 piece box
  8. Ex Voto Chocolates and Confections Vegan Blueberry Lavender in 61% Dark Chocolate Hand Painted Bonbon
  9. Aelan Chocolate Makers Epi dark fine chocolate 70%
  10. Marich Confectionery Company, Inc. dba MARICH Pancrafted Chocolates Vegan Semi-Sweet Almonds

 

 

CHOCOLATE CALLING

  1. Chocolate Calling Chocolate Crunch Bar
  2. Chocolate Calling Peanut Butter Cups

The Chocolate Calling Chocolate Crunch Bar is made of organic puffed quinoa, which gives this bar the perfect crunch. 66% organic, fair-trade chocolate. 2 oz bar.

Ingredients: 66% organic, fair-trade chocolate (organic cacao beans, organic evaporated cane syrup, organic cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin), organic quinoa puffs (organic quinoa). The bar wrapper is printed on 100% recycled paper with soy ink.

Chocolate Calling says it’s vegan for these reasons: “For the animals.  For your health.  For the environment.”

Find it here at http://www.chocolatecalling.com/

SOLKIKI CHOCOLATEMAKER

  1. Solkiki Chocolatemaker Gran Nativo
  2. Solkiki Chocolatemaker Yigacheffe Coffee

The Gran Nativo is a 2-ingredient dark chocolate which is light bodied and full of mouthwatering fruit notes.

Gran Nativo Blanco translates into “Grand Native White”. It is a very special and elegant cacao with a high proportion of white beans- Hidden for more than a century, this gem from nature was rediscovered in 2008 on the small cacao fields by San Juan de Bigotes, in Piura, North of Peru.

With the support of Cooperative Norandino the smallholder’s cacao farmers of the region identified the best cacao trees and reintroduced this ancient cacao varietal.  Today, Gran Nativo Blanco is the most awarded cacao from Peru and is recognized for its delicate flavours, aroma’s and fragrances.

Find it here at https://www.solkiki.co.uk/product-page/nat-78-dark-milk

EX VOTO CHOCOLATES AND CONFECTIONS

  1. Ex Voto Chocolates and Confections Vegan Passion Fruit in 61% Dark Chocolate Hand Painted Bonbon
  2. Ex Voto Chocolates and Confections Vegan Blueberry Lavender in 61% Dark Chocolate Hand Painted Bonbon

According to Ex Voto’s chocolatiers, “The freshness of our chocolates comes from using fresh ingredients  to flavor our bonbons.  We use fresh juices and fruit purees, which have a noticeable vibrancy and we steep coffee, herbs and spices in cream for even more liveliness in flavor. We make our nut butters from scratch and finish them off with caramelized sugar and a touch of sea salt to bring out the truest nutty flavor possible.  ”

Find it here at https://www.exvotochocolates.com

AELAN CHOCOLATE MAKERS

  1. Aelan Chocolate Makers Malo dark fine chocolate 70%
  2. Aelan Chocolate Makers Epi dark fine chocolate 70%

Based in the island region of Vanuatu, Aelan means “Island” in Bislama, the language of Vanuatu. Aelan Chocolate Makers was born from a passion for cocoa and artisanal manufacturing, Based in the pristine Vanuatu archipelago, we use hand farmed cocoa grown in dark volcanic soil, giving it its rich flavour.

Since 2007, they have been working with local island communities of cocoa growers, helping them to rehabilitate plantations and improve fermenting and drying methods, our profits are equitably shared with our local suppliers.

As these islands are under threat from climate change, to help support them we recommend buying as much of their chocolate as possible.

Find it here at: http://aelanchocolate.com

SWEET ALCHEMY

  1. Sweet Alchemy Vegan Selection – 6 piece box

Sweet Alchemy (aka Chocolate Visions) uses all-fresh local ingredients, and all of their chocolates are either hand dipped or hand molded by them to order in their shop in Scotts Valley, California.

See more at http://chocolatevisions.com

MARICH CONFECTIONARY COMPANY

  1. Marich Confectionery Company, MARICH Pancrafted Chocolates Vegan Semi-Sweet Almonds

California chocolatier Marich is known for their chocolate and coated nuts combinations, and has a line of vegan chocolates. This one has fresh roasted whole California almonds coated in a rich semi sweet chocolate. The Parve chocolate is both vegan and kosher.

“Pancrafted” is their humorous play of words with the expression, “handcrafted.”

Find out more or purchase here.