by Tammyjo Eckhart

Created on: April 21, 2010

Vegan chocolate is a the idea that absolutely no animal byproducts were used to create chocolate.  The fact is, that unless you are making milk or white chocolate, you don't need to add anything to cocoa butter, cocoa solids and cocoa liquor to make dark chocolate.  Unless the creator has added animal proteins for some reason, like chocolate bacon, all chocolate is vegetarian all ready. Vegan, especially for white chocolate is tricky and there are dozens and dozens of chocolatiers out there claiming to have excellent truffles, candies, and bars for you to buy at a much higher price, of course. One of my careers is as a chocolate reviewer.  Every now and then we get products that are vegan.  They vary widely in their their approach to creating chocolate ranging from simple dark chocolates with no added ingredients to substitutions for animal byproducts such as soy or hemp milk.   These products also vary greatly quality of chocolate ranging from very waxy tasting to sour to those you can barely tell the difference from dairy added treats.  The simple fact is that I have not reviewed every vegan chocolate there is on the market so I can't give you a list of great companies you should try.  Instead I want to give you some qualities you should look for in your chocolate and advice on how to find a vegan chocolatier.

First, you need to eat non-vegan chocolate and decide if you want your vegan chocolate to taste as close to that as possible or like something else.  You may also want to check out some of the commonly added ingredients that substitute for dairy products such as soy milk, hemp milk, coconut milk, or other additives and see if you like those on their own.  If you don't like the "milk" on it's own, you may notice the taste distracts from the cocoa.

Second, look at the ingredients list.  Look all the way through it.  There is absolutely no excuse to substitute anything else for the cacao itself, it is a bean all ready and studies strongly suggest it can have health benefits for some people.  Unless it has cocoa or cacao listed then it isn't chocolate so don't waste your time.  Also avoid any ingredient you don't recognize.  It is hardly healthy to stop eating animal byproducts only to start eating artificial matter. Never be afraid to write to a company and ask them questions.  Avoid any product that doesn't list it's ingredients or a chocolatier that won't confirm what they

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