If you’re vegan, it’s absolutely normal that you miss some of the non-vegan food. However, while it’s hard to find a decent replacement for eggs or dairy milk, you don’t have to compromise on taste if you want some chocolate. There is a whole vegan variety of it – you just need to know where to look and how to choose.
You can use vegan chocolate for baking, add it to milk, protein shakes, or simply eat it just like that. Some of the vegan chocolate bars taste even better than the dairy-rich ones! However, the choice nowadays is extremely wide, and you can easily get frustrated when choosing the best vegan chocolate for you. To make it easier, in this article, we’ve collected all the important information on selecting the tastiest vegan chocolate, along with the best ways to use it.
Sounds yummy? Read on!
So, What Exactly Is Vegan Chocolate?
Every chocolate is made from dried and fermented cacao beans – so from the beginning, it is vegan-friendly. However, in the process of making a chocolate bar, milk or other ingredients derived from milk can be added, making it unsuitable for vegans.
There are two types of vegan chocolate: high-quality dark chocolate with no milk derivatives added and milk chocolate made with plant milk (this is a rarer one).
You can also find other vegan chocolate treats in shops and online stores, such as ice-cream, cereal, biscuits, cakes, and sweets. Actually, nowadays, you can find a vegan alternative for any chocolate-flavored meal.
Where Can I Buy Vegan Chocolate?
First of all, if you don’t like the idea of spending an hour at the local shop looking for the best vegan chocolate bar they have, it’s better to place an order online. Look for the manufacturers that produce vegan chocolate – this way, it won’t be a problem to find vegan milk chocolate. It’s also an excellent idea to buy in bulk – this way, you will save money and won’t have to go online every time you need a bar of chocolate or some vegan chocolate chips for the cake.
Reading reviews about manufacturers will help you find the best one you need. Look for advice from experts in baking – they usually know what they do. For example, Santa Barbara is a restaurateurs’ or bakers’ go-to choice to buy premium wholesale chocolate in bulk. Or, if you live in the UK or Australia, you can monitor the cooking and baking forums and social media for more information.
However, you can also buy vegan-friendly dark chocolate in any local shop – just look for the option that contains more than 50% cacao. When it comes to a decent quality product, you may want to spend a little more than you could usually expect. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t find affordable and tasty vegan chocolate bars. Some of the good-quality chocolate bars that everyone can afford include Ritter Sport, Theo Chocolate (check the ingredient list for these two – they offer both vegan and non-vegan varieties), No Whey, VGAN, or Chocolove.
How Do I Choose the Best Vegan Chocolate?
Not every chocolate suitable for vegans is labeled as vegan – so you just need to check. Most likely, you won’t find milk vegan chocolate in a local store, but it won’t be that hard to find good dark chocolate. When choosing in the store, make sure to check the ingredients. Usually, you can find chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter (100% vegan, don’t worry), and vanilla in a typical bar of chocolate.
Chocolate with a long list of ingredients is a “no” for you – it may contain many animal-related fillers or products derived from milk, like whey, casein, milk fat, and milk solids. Also, be careful – some vegan chocolate may be labeled as “may contain milk.” It doesn’t mean that milk or milk products were added, but that this chocolate was made on the same line as other products containing dairy, so there is a possibility of cross-contamination.
What Can I Do with Vegan Chocolate?
First of all, you can eat it just like that – simply buy a vegan chocolate bar and enjoy! However, if you want more, you can make everything that you do with regular chocolate with a vegan option: cakes, biscuits, ice creams, energy bites, and so on. You can also add it to plant milk, to give it a chocolate flavor, or to a protein shake, so it’ll taste better. If you can’t afford a vegan chocolate treat you want – you can simply buy vegan chocolate chips and make it yourself!
A Delicious Alternative
These days, you can find plenty of vegan alternatives for everything on the market – milk, eggs, meat, cheese, or honey. However, with chocolate, you don’t even have to look for an alternative – you simply need to find a good-quality dark chocolate bar in your local store or buy vegan milk chocolate chips in online stores.
The only thing to remember is that you need to check the ingredients in any chocolate you’re buying. Some of it may contain dairy derivatives, some can be made in the same line as the milk-containing products, and of course, we can’t forget about untrustworthy manufacturers. Make sure that the chocolate you’re buying is 100% vegan – and enjoy. Your chocolate-missing days are over.
