Chocolate is such a delicate superfood! Yes, I said superfood because pure chocolate contains a high concentration of antioxidants.
Chocolate has traditionally fallen under the “dessert” category of the food pyramid, but considering chocolate is derived from cocoa grown on trees, we now understand its health properties.
Most cocoa trees are grown in the tropics, so you can find a lot of cocoa trees in Central America! In its purest form, cocoa can provide many health benefits such as antioxidants; it has been a mood enhancer and used in spiritual practices.
We hit the jackpot with pure dark chocolate because studies have shown that it can improve health status and lower the risk of heart disease. The keyword here is PURE chocolate because mainstream chocolate is filled with added sugars and milk to give it a sweeter taste. Naturally, chocolate has a strong bitter taste, so companies manipulated the natural flavoring to make sweeter tasting chocolate to have a big selling point.
Most chocolate bars at grocery stores and gas stations are filled with added sugars, milk, and saturated fats. When chocolate is packed with unhealthy additives, the incredible health benefits from chocolate are stripped away. Manipulation of chocolate is a disservice to the excellent health benefits it contains.
Vegan Chocolate
Chocolate is naturally vegan and is easily accessible in this day and age. You can walk into any whole foods and find an entire aisle dedicated to healthy chocolates! There are three ways to identify a vegan chocolate product:
1. Look for a “Vegan” logo on the outside wrapper indicating that the product is vegan
2. Look at the ingredient list and identify if the product contains milk
3. Try to go for products that have a high percentage of dark chocolate (70% dark chocolate)
But it can get tricky trying to identify vegan chocolate, so we put together a list of ingredients you would see on vegan chocolate products.
Cocoa: The fancy term for chocolate
Cocoa butter: Derived from the inner shell of the cocoa
Lecithin: Only plant-based lecithin are vegan
- Soy lecithin
- Sunflower lecithin
Although dark chocolate is naturally vegan, you may come across dark chocolate products containing milk. So it’s always important to look at the ingredient list! But lucky for you, I have put together a list of vegan-friendly chocolates!
Vegan Chocolate Products
Justin’s has a great dark chocolate peanut butter cup mimics a Reese’s Cup without all of the added sugars. They come in large butter cups or mini cups, which can be dangerous if you are like me and love butter cups! The buttercups also come in a variety of nut butter such as almond or cashew butter!
Alter Eco chocolate is 60% dark chocolate packed with superfood powers because there is quinoa added to the product! This product represents the classic Crunch bar, but instead of crisp rice quinoa is added for the extra crunch! This product only contains five ingredients making it a pure product!
Hu has many different flavor chocolate bars, and the one that caught my attention was the cashew butter with orange-vanilla dark chocolate! This product is vegan and 70% dark chocolate. They also sell small bite-sized dark chocolate pieces which can be melted and used for baking.
Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Belgium Chocolate
Belgium is well known for making rich chocolate! So it’s no surprise that Trader Joes has a Belgium chocolate on their shelves. With only four ingredients, we can attest that this chocolate is on the “healthy” chocolate list!
Lily’s chocolate is 70% cocoa and sweetened with stevia (sugar alternative). This chocolate has sea salt sprinkled on top, which adds the perfect salty and sweet taste to this product. Also, two servings of this chocolate have ten grams of fiber! Amazing!
This chocolate comes in several different flavors such as toasted coconut, pure almonds, sea salt and nibs, and salted almonds. The pure dark product comes in three strengths: 70%, 80%, and 92% dark chocolate! One half of a bar contains 5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.
This chocolate bar mimics a “milk” chocolate by using rice milk as its base to achieve a smooth richness. Rice crisps are then added to give the bar a little crunch! You can also get mini chips which can be added to cookies or melted for liquid chocolate.
Although not all Chocolove products are vegan, they do carry vegan dark chocolate. Their vegan bar is made of Almonds and Sea Salt containing 70% cocoa from Belgium! Sea salt adds a sour taste to the chocolate, which offsets the bitter dark chocolate.
Creative Recipes
If you are savvy in the kitchen and are looking for ways to incorporate dark chocolate into some of your dishes, the ideas are endless! Chocolate is very versatile and can be made into or with many desserts and pastries. Aside from the traditional use of chocolate in cookies and cakes, we have found some creative and fun ways to incorporate chocolate into your life!
Energy balls
Energy balls are one of the easiest yet creative snacks you can make with only a few ingredients. Typically you would add crush nuts or coconut shreds to give your energy balls a crunch. You can add chopped sea salt dark chocolate to the mixture to give your energy balls a crunch with flavor!
Chocolate Covered Nuts
If you have almonds or cashews hanging around in your cabinet, you can melt some chocolate and drizzle on top of the nuts! You can add additional sea salt for that extra crunch and flavor.
Avocado Brownies
Believe it or not, but avocado brownies are amazing! Because avocado is a fat, it brings a thick richness to the brownie batter. You can melt dark chocolate in with the brownie batter and top it off with melted chocolate and peanut butter! You won’t be disappointed!
Fondue
Here is the easiest of all tips for using dark chocolate, a fondue bar! Creating a fondu bar is perfect for the holidays because all you have to worry about is melting the chocolate, and the rest comes easy! I’d recommend having pretzel sticks, vegan marshmallows, fruits, and cookies to dip into the fondue!
When you purchase dark chocolate, you get the best of both worlds, sweet and healthy! Remember, pure dark chocolate is a superfood because of the high amounts of antioxidants properties. It has been known to reduce cholesterol levels, decrease cardiovascular disease, and reduce weight gain. Identifying vegan chocolate is essential, so remember to look at the ingredient list and find that “Vegan” friendly mark on the wrapper! The more ingredients listed generally represent how processed the product is, which relates to an unhealthy product. If you still feel iffy about buying vegan chocolate, we suggest you take our chocolate recommendations with you the next time you go to the grocery store!
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