A vegan obsession: chocolate

Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts

Pana Chocolate. Raw. Vegan. Good. So Good!

I'm crazy about this chocolate.

pana chocolate

I have to tell you about a new chocolate bar on the market. I'd go as far as to say the best I've EVER

tasted. Seriously.

Fair trade ingredients with the exception of the coconut oil.

Raw, sweetened with agave or coconut nectar and certified organic. VEGAN.

Their packaging is made from 100% recycled material. And even their foil wrapping is fully biodegrade

and inks are purely vegetable based.

Ten different flavours. The sour cherry. fig and wild orange, and coconut gogi berry are

ridiculously good. Well, they ALL are.

Made in Australia but can be shipped worldwide and stockists are also extensively

located throughout Europe and Australasia.

That's all. Get some. Then tell me I'm right!

pana chocolate

New Vegan & Gluten Free Products Just Keep Rolling In

London Olympia was host to the Natural & Organics show last weekend. I went along to see what new products were being launched. Also, to just take in the atmosphere. When you get a gathering of people who are passionate about what they do, and care about their consumers AND the planet, the atmosphere is quite electric.

Held over three days Natural & Organic have zoned areas Beauty & Spa, Health, Living and Food. Primarily, my interest was in the FOOD but I did stroll though the other zones to see if anything caught my eye.

I thought I'd share some photo's with you. I was heartened to see many of the Continental European, and American products I love to enjoy when I am travelling are beginning to make their way over here, together with great 'home grown' foods emerging.

There was a feast of exciting new chocolate, more coconut products than you can shake a stick at and a substantial amount of gluten free foods. All making it easier and tastier to be vegan and gluten free. The days of feeling like you are missing out are numbered (not that I do, research and persistance pays off in many ways).

Hodmedods
Chia Pod

Veganicity

Life Food

Ohso now have a sugar free version 63 calls

Apricot Kernel Butter from Sun & Seed. Extremely good for you and delicious.

A salad/cooking oil made from milk thistle. Milk thistle is a great detoxifyer and liver strengthener and cleanser. Erbology also had delicious no sugar sea buckthorn jam

My Award For Best New Vegan Chocolate - Goes to Pana Chocolate With quite a few flavour combinations, the chocolatier from Australia certain knows flavour! Soon to be in the UK.

Best Museli I've tasted. Made with raw vegetables. It has the perfect balance of sweet and crunch. Filling too! from Primrose Kitchen

Seitan made from spelt that SOME people with gluten sensitivities are able to tolerate. If you know you can then you'd enjoy these products. I cannot so I did not try them.

Gusto Kola. Sugar and artificial sweetener free. It is loaded with botanicals and actually tastes like cola. I was surprised!

Raw Ecstasy

Delicious cookies. Soon to be sugar free. Punku Quinoa cookies.

A (shy) Michelan Starred chef Chris Horridge is making his own range of sugar free, healthy vegan sorbets. The coconut wasabi ripple was INCREDIBLE! Yi

Delicious vegan cheese made from almonds. Soy free! Vegecheese

Food For Life are coming over from the US with their vegan and gluten free breads.

Look out for these new products. MANY of which will be in the large UK supermarkets. The big stores have caught on. Which of course is great but I am also wary of larger companies getting on the band wagon and touting foods as health foods but when you look at the label they are stuffed full of processed sugar, crappy fats and fillers. All the above are both delicious and healthy. The best combo!

Surely A 'Must Do' When In New York. Go Visit A Chocolate Factory [video clip]

Not all chocolates are created equal. Not all raw chocolates cut the mustard so to speak. Fine & Raw does.

Tell you about Fine & Raw? OK.

"FINE & RAW was started in a notorious Williamsburg, Brooklyn artist loft by Daniel Sklaar. A nonsensical obsession with chocolate inspired Daniel to begin making small chocolate batches. He shared them with friends then started delivering them on his bicycle to small local purveyors. The stock was good - the purveyors wanted more"

The first slip of a morsel of F&R into my mouth occurred at the Williamsburg Brooklyn Flea foodie market named Smorgasburg (see what they did?!). Here I sampled a few morsels and became rather partial to their Sea Salt Chunky bar. I declare it is rich dark chocolate heaven with the perfect amount of sea salt to offset the subtle sweetness that lets the cacao shine. I loved it so much I tracked down the factory to the uber trendy Brooklyn district of Bushwick. The smell inside was insane. I inhaled so much and so deeply I nearly had to grab one of their brown paper bags to stop me hyperventilating!

If you are in Brooklyn I strongly suggest you get yourself over to the Fine & Raw HQ and meet these bean to bar makers. It is a fun thing to do and there are a few vegan cafes and even a vegan bar just around the corner. Brooklyn has a very different feel to Manhattan and Bushwick and nearby Williamsburg are a great place to shop, eat and hang out. Check out the graffiti around there, too.

Back to Fine & Raw...They source their beans from small sustainable farmers in countries like Columbia and Madagascar. They have a little cafe area where you can sip a hot drink, eat far too much chocolate (you can sample their amazing flavours of 'bonbon' 'lucuma & vanilla' and 'blueberry' 'chipotle' and even one with cacao nibs in, to name but a few), and watch the chocolate making shenanigans unfold before your eyes.

What makes this chocolate 'raw'? Well, it means it is not heated above a certain temperature and so it mains it's flavour profile and maintains it's nutrients.