Can vegetarians eat chocolate?
Is Chocolate Vegan and Vegetarian friendly?
Chocolate is a widely consumed food that has plenty of benefits. Two pieces of dark chocolate can be a healthy snack for most people. But can chocolate be part of a Vegan and a Vegetarian diet?
The main ingredients of chocolate are plant-based cacao, sugar, and cocoa butter. Which makes pure and dark chocolate Vegan and Vegetarian friendly. Unfortunately, a large variety of chocolate sold in supermarkets may contain milk and animal-derived ingredients. Sugar is also one major issue that defines if a bar of dark chocolate is Vegan because commercial chocolate may contain refined sugar that is filtered with bone char.
The best way to choose a chocolate bar, a chocolate powder, or any chocolate is simply by carefully checking the product description or the label. In general, the fewer ingredients, the better. Thanks to this article on peta.org you have a full animal-derived ingredients list to avoid when trying a new chocolate product.
Vegan chocolate ingredients
Along with the three required ingredients for any chocolate (Cacao or cocoa, Cacao butter, and Sugar), we have plenty of choices to make delicious Vegan-friendly chocolate. These extra plant-based ingredients are useful to prepare tasty chocolate bars, hot chocolates, cakes, and many more Vegan chocolate recipes.
Spices and aromatic plants have many health benefits and add flavor to chocolate. Some of the best ingredients to prepare spiced chocolate are:
- Cinnamon
- Mint
- Anise
- Vanilla
- Ginger
- Chili pepper
- Cayenne pepper
Dried fruits are excellent to pair with dark chocolate:
- Dried goji berry
- Dried grapes or raisins
- Dried berries, especially the sweet ones
- Dried banana and fig
- Dried apricot
Nuts, grains, and seeds can also be added to Vegan chocolate because of their variety of tastes and nutritional benefits:
- Hazelnuts
- Roasted sunflower seeds
- Almonds
- Chia seeds
- Peanuts
- Hemp seeds
- Pecans
- Pumpkin seeds
- Rolled oats
Chocolate that contains natural flavors, spices, dried fruit, and nuts are not only vegan friendly but also healthy and tasty. Here is a simple list of ingredients to prepare the Vegan Ginger Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies:
- Grapeseed oil, organic vegetable oil, canola oil, or sunflower oil
- Superfine sugar
- Ginger
- Water
- All-purpose flour
- Cocoa powder
- Salt
Which chocolate is Vegan? Vegetarian?
The eight types of chocolates that are used in hardly any chocolate products are usually suitable for vegetarians and some of them are Vegan-friendly. But the information provided here are for chocolate manufacturers who do not use non Vegan sugar and syrup.
| Chocolate suitable for Vegan | Chocolate suitable for Vegetarian | |
| Raw chocolate is made using unroasted cocoa beans and generally does not contain dairy or animal-derived products. | Yes | Yes |
| Dark chocolate may contain up to 80 percent cacao. Semisweet and bittersweet chocolates are made with cocoa butter, cocoa, a low amount of sugar, and usually, does not contain milk or other animal products. | Yes | Yes |
| White chocolate does not contain cacao solid but cacao butter, milk, and sugar. (not really chocolate!) | No | Yes |
| The Ruby Chocolate launched in 2017 by the famous chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut is made from ruby cocoa beans. It contains cacao mass, milk, cacao butter, and sugar. | No | Yes |
| Compound chocolate may contain other low-cost vegetable fat like palm oil to replace the cacao butter. It is more a chocolate look-alike that is used to make snacks, candies, and other commercial products. | Yes | Yes |
| Modeling chocolate is used to make cakes and pastries. This combination of melting chocolate and syrup is a versatile ingredient particularly useful in dessert recipes. | Yes | Yes |
| Cacao powder is what remains when extracting the cacao butter from the beans. For example, it is excellent for making hot chocolate, smoothies, and brownies. | Yes | Yes |
| Milk Chocolate is made of milk, cocoa solids, cacao butter, and sugar. It is probably the most eaten chocolate. | No | Yes |
5 brands that sell Vegan chocolate
Can Vegetarian eat Mars chocolate? Is snickers chocolate bar vegan?
There are many types of snickers bars and not all of them are vegan and vegetarian friendly. Two ingredients must be taken into consideration while checking the ingredients list: milk and nougat. We already know that milk is not part of Vegan diet, but many people may not know that nougat usually contains egg whites.
Although the original snicker and other Mars chocolate are not vegan friendly, there are recipes to make a perfect homemade Vegan snickers chocolate bar. Vegan chocolate, coconut milk, oat, matcha powder, almond flour, coconut flour are some ingredients that can replace the milk and the nougat.
Can Vegetarian eat Cadbury chocolate? Is Cadbury Bournville chocolate bar vegan?
Vegetarian can consume most Cadbury’s products because they do not contain animals’ by-products expect honey, dairy and eggs. Which make them non suitable for Vegan. The company claims that the whey (is made with rennet that does not come from animal) and the shellac used in their products are both vegetarian friendly. Otherwise, it is specified on the label.
Vegans can usually consume Cadbury Bournville chocolate. But it is made with vegetable oil like palm oil that are not accepted by some Vegans. In addition, Cadbury Cocoa powder may be a good choice for Vegans who enjoy a good hot chocolate or baking chocolate cakes.
Can vegetarians eat Hershey’s chocolate? Is Hershey’s dark chocolate vegan?
Many famous Hershey’s chocolates are vegetarian friendly like the Hershey’s Kisses and Kit Kat but are not suitable for Vegan due to the use of milk. Some brands part of the Hershey’s group like Twizzlers chocolate bar are known to be Vegan friendly. For the ones who enjoy homemade foods, here are three chocolate recipes for Vegan you can find on Hershey’s website:
- Vegan Chocolate Drizzled Shortbread Cookies
- Gluten-Free Rich Mocha Tofu Mousse
- Rich Mocha Tofu Mousse
Is Lindt dark chocolate vegan?
Lindt has a variety of chocolate products that can satisfy Vegans and non-Vegans. The brand is known to produce some of the most qualitative chocolate. Many of them contain milk but we have numerous Lindt chocolate that Vegans can eat:
- Lindt Excellence Lime Intense
- The Excellence Pink Grapefruit Dark Chocolate
- Lindt Excellence 99% Cacao
- Lindt Excellence 85% Cacao
- The Excellence 90% Cocoa-Dark Supreme-Noir
- The Excellence Madagascar Dark Chocolate
- The Excellence 70% Mild Dark Chocolate
- The Excellence Ecuador Dark Chocolate
Loving Earth Vegan chocolate
The company make chocolate with the best cacao cultivated in Peru. Loving Earth uses organic plant-based products and milk substitutes like coconut milk or smooth cashew milk to make chocolate suitable for Vegans. They have many plant-based powders such as the rainbow powder (a superfood composed with six plants and herbs) and many chocolate foods. Here are 12 Loving Earth chocolates that Vegan can eat:
- The Solid Cashew Mylk Chocolate Eggs
- Almond crunch chocolate
- The 72 % Dark Chocolate
- Organic White Chocolate (with coconut milk powder)
- Organic Cacao Powder
- Cacao nibs (packed with healthy nutrients)
- Cashew Mylk Chocolate
- Salted Caramel Swayzee
- Dark Drinking Chocolate
- Paleo – Berry Choc Mix
- Mint Dark Chocolate
- Hazelnut Chocolate Butter
Can Vegans eat chocolate ice cream?
Most commercial chocolate ice creams are not Vegan friendly because they commonly use capric acid and sometimes gelatin. The capric acid is made from animal fats and the gelatin uses collagen extracted from animals.
It is possible to prepare a delicious homemade chocolate ice cream using raw cacao powder and coconut milk. In addition, many stores and brands have started to offer dairy-free ice creams that could be suitable for vegans. Here is a list of 10 certified Vegan chocolate ice cream:
| The Halo Top Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert Chocolate |
| Cado Non-Dairy Avocado Frozen Dessert Deep Dark Chocolate |
| So Delicious Chocolate Coconut Milk Frozen Dessert |
| Oatly Chocolate Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert |
| NadaMoo! Organic Mint Chip Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert |
| Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Dessert |
| NadaMoo! Dutch Chocolate Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert |
| Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert |
| Magnum Non-Dairy Classic Ice Cream Bar |
| So Delicious Dairy Free Double Chocolate Frozen Dessert Bar |
These products or similar chocolate ice creams are available online at Target, Publix Delivery, Amazon, and Food Service Direct for bulk orders. We have already seen that finding a real Vegan chocolate can be tricky. However there are more and more products for Vegetarians and Vegans who enjoying chocolate and its by products.
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