Whaddyalove Chocolate

Looking for a fun gift of chocolate? Whaddyalove Chocolate based in Los Angeles is making vegan chocolates with pizzazz!

Half of the fun of these bars is in the packaging as they are wrapped with a thick paper with origami folds.  The Classic Bar was psychedelic looking and so colorful. And inside the chocolate was made with cacao nibs.

The other half of the fun is on the inside. The Sparkle Bar has a unicorn on the outside and chocolate with edible sparkles on the inside. Made with pure cacao beans, cane sugar, cacao butter, and Himalayan Salt, you really can't go wrong with these.

These chocolates would make a really fun gift to anyone who is a child at heart. They even come with a card that states: "Share what you love about your life with someone you cherish." So sweet. You can order the bars online for $5.95 each here.

Full Disclosure: Although the chocolate was provided to me at no cost to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

Raaka - Chocolate Bars

It isn't very often that I feel like I actually want to order chocolate bars that I can't find locally. With Raaka, this is definitely the case. Raaka is a new Brooklyn-based company making super high-quality, unroasted chocolate. Their unique low temperature process preserves each region's natural, wild flavors, bringing you closer to the bean...or so they say.

Ryan Cheney was introduced to chocolate-making at a yoga school in Thailand. Inspired by companies with social missions, he founded Raaka to explore low-temperature chocolate making and create a more equitable global society in which communities have the opportunity to improve their quality of life. After spending a year learning bean-to-bar chocolate making, Ryan teamed up with Nate Hodge, a musician and gastronomist with a lust for exotic flavors and groundbreaking processes. For several months, Nate and Ryan enjoyed the sound of micro-batch chocolate grinders churning around the clock as they developed a new approach to chocolate making.

They sent me two bars and other tiny samples to try. My favorite of the two was the Vanilla Rooibos. Rooibos is a nettle tea from South Africa and brings warm notes to this bar. But what really arouses your tastebuds is the vanilla. Upon first bite, you get a melt-in-your-mouth vanilla flavor enveloped in pure, natural cacao. It's one of the best bars I've ever tasted.

The Maple & Nibs is also great. Maple sugar adds sweetness and cacao nibs coat the back of the bar for crunchiness and flavor.

Other tiny disc-sized samples were of their 75% Madagascar, Coconut Milk, Lapsang Chai, Dark with Sea Salt, Bourbon Cask Aged, and Yacon. All were excellent. I especially liked the milky Coconut Milk flavor, the Sea Salt, and the Bourbon Cask Aged.

Farmers at OKO Caribe and CIAAB co-ops are paid a 20% premium for the beans used in Raaka's bars. That's social responsibility at its best. All of their bars are certified Organic, soy-, nut-, and gluten-free as well as vegan. You will find them on Amazon here for $7.95 each. Well worth it in my opinion. They even make vegan truffles too!

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

Undone Chocolate

There I was, strolling through Yes! Organic Market when I came across a smiling man. He coaxed me into trying his chocolate and in minutes, I was hooked. Who was this strange man and how did he get into the chocolate making business in DC?! Adam Kavalier is his name and Undone Chocolate is his game. He was in graduate school studying medicinal plants for his PhD when he discovered antioxidant-rich cacao. He and his wife, Kristen, began experimenting with it and soon discovered how marvelous it could be. And just like that, Undone Chocolate was born.

Today they work out of Union Kitchen, a food incubator located in DC, where entrepreneurs can make their dreams come true. Their current product line includes four different bars. Their most expensive bar is the one made with 74% cacao from Matagalpa, Nicaragua. This two-ingredient bar has just the right balance of cocoa beans and organic cane sugar that leaves your mouth watering and wanting more. It is mild and balanced.

The other three have similar packaging. My favorite is the Arouse! This 70% cacao bar is also just made with organic cacao and cane sugar, but the addition of cinnamon, cardamom, and chili gives it the oomph I like. Upon first bite, it is the cinnamon that you taste. It starts to coat your mouth and as it melts down your throat, it finishes with the spiciness from chili that leaves your throat tingling even after the chocolate has been consumed.

The Replenish bar is that same well-balanced mix of cacao and cane sugar with Himalayan pink salt. A little salty with your sweet is always a great combination.

And last, but not least, is the Nourish, which is another plain 70% chocolate bar -- no salt or spices. This one seems the boldest and creamiest as it will just melt in your mouth as visions of sugarplums dance in your head.

Best of all, they describe the origins of their chocolate and their commitment to fair trade on their website giving you piece of mind that your purchase supports a fair economy in Central America and the Caribbean.

These bars along with their cocoa can be found all over DC in various stores like Yes! Organic Market, Each Peach Market, and Glen's Garden Market. Soon, it will be in MOM's Organic Market as well. The chocolate bars retail from $8 to $10 each. And your purchase goes towards supporting a thriving business with budding entrepreneurs in DC. To buy them online, click here. Remember, chocolate can be very good for you as it is antioxidant rich, but only in its purest form and without a bunch of non-natural additives. And with that, I think I'll undo another wrapper of Undone Chocolate and savor the flavor of real roasted chocolate.

SPAGnVOLA - Single Estate Chocolate

I love love love chocolate! But, I mostly eat chocolate with other flavors like cacao nibs, caramel, or spices. So, when SPAGnVOLA contacted me about their single-estate chocolate, I was like "sure, I'll try it." It wasn't the "flavored" chocolate I was used to and they don't specialize in vegan chocolate so I was worried it would taste like baking chocolate. I couldn't have been more wrong.

SPAGnVOLA chocolates are as rich as can be. Sustainably harvested, their beans are cultivated under the purest environmental conditions in soil on mountain slopes endowed with plentiful rainfall. This handcrafted chocolate is made with the finest beans from the Dominican Republic and each one is very unique.

The 80% Cacao is the one I expected to be most like baking chocolate. It was not at all. In fact, I discovered I liked this rich and creamy bar the best.

In this collection, they make three bars with differing percentages of cacao -- 70%, 75%, and 80%. Each is unique in flavor and richness.

I was not only impressed with the chocolates, but also with the company's excitement over their product. They encouraged me not to chew them and instead to let them melt in my mouth. That made them even softer and tastier, but eventually I had to chew and the wait was well worth it.

Their factory is located in Gaithersburg, MD while they own their own cacao farms in the Dominican Republic. That makes them semi-local! All of the single estate bars are vegan and are sold in select locations. You can also order a 3-variety pack for $29 online here. Enjoy the richness of SPAGnVOLA!

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

Joy Bliss Raw - Chocolates

Any time I hear of raw chocolate being made locally, my eyes widen and the edges of my lips begin to curl up as vision of sugar plums dance in my head. At VegFest, I met Anh Thu Hoang, founder of Joy Bliss Raw, a raw chocolate company based in DC. Skeptical, I tried a couple of her assorted chocolates and within mouth-watering seconds, that skeptical look was wiped off my face. These are restaurant-quality artisanal raw chocolates worthy of accolades.

The most impressive of her lineup are her Assorted Chocolates. These handcrafted chocolates look like they came right out of a gourmet chocolate factory. The shell of each is made with raw cacao liquor and cacao butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and pink Himalayan salt. There are typically four flavors in each box: Caramel, Chai, Marzipan, and Almond Butter or Peanut Butter.  The marzipan was spectacular and made me wonder how she made it with all of these healthy ingredients. The marzipan filling was made with sprouted cashews, macadamia nuts, maple syrup, coconut oil and flour, and almond and vanilla extracts. Similar ingredients were used to make the other flavors and they were all really good.

Next, I tried the Half and Half. I could eat these every day. These tiny little snacks are made by pressing a mix of nuts and seeds together (sprouted almonds, buckwheat, pumpkin and sunflower seeds along with sesame, flax, and chia seeds) with hemp hearts and coating half of the bars in cacao butter and nibs.

Lastly, I tried her Almond Butter Cookies, which were crunchy and rich and full of vanilla flavor. They are also made with sprouted almonds and chia along with almond butter.

Anh has an interesting story as she originally obtained a master's in public health and spent many years working on HIV prevention in Africa and Asia. While living in Thailand in 2006 to 2009, she fell in love with raw foods and decided to change careers to feed her new passion. After graduating from the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in Fort Bragg, California, she started her own company and is now growing inch by inch.

She uses high quality raw ingredients in all of her products that are fair trade and organic. The best part is that she does not use any preservatives, additives, or emulsifiers. All of her products are vegan and gluten-free. She said the prices of each product vary upon retailer and to contact her directly for orders. You can find her contact information on her website. Support local. Eat good, healthy food. Joy Bliss Raw.

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

JJ's Sweets - Cocomels

In the years between when I went vegetarian and vegan, one of the only things holding me back were caramels. There is nothing quite like the sweetness of caramel flavor in your hot chocolate, on your ice cream, or, even better, just straight out of the package -- hard and soft caramels.  It was really the moment I discovered JJ's Sweets Cocomels that I realized that vegan wasn't going to be so difficult after all.

When they started back in 2009, JJ's Cocomels were a game changer. At a time when caramels were made by mixing butter, heavy cream, corn syrup, and white sugar together, JJ's changed everything by not only veganizing caramels, but making them as healthy as they possibly could be.  They are everything you ever remembered in a caramel, but even better. Yeah, I actually think they are better than the typical non-vegan caramels made with milk.

JJ's makes both soft caramels and hard chocolate-covered caramels. They are all so good, I really couldn't say that I like one more than the other. I guess if I had to pick a favorite, it would be the chocolate-covered ones with sea salt. You bite into this semi-hard caramel and you get the sea salt followed by creamy chocolate followed by chewy coconut-inspired caramel. It's truly amazing. It's not too sweet and is just the right balance of chocolate and caramel. These would satisfy the most discerning caramel lover.

Other flavors include vanilla and espresso and how I love that the espresso has an coffee bean on top of it!  So what is a chocolate-covered Cocomel made of? The ingredients are coconut cream, brown rice syrup, evaporated cane juice, chocolate, vanilla extract, sea salt, and xantham gum. The icing on the cake is that they are organic and, therefore, non-GMO as well. How many chocolate candies do you know of that are certified organic? Not many. So they've really gone the extra mile.

Then there are the soft, chewy, naked caramels. By not coating these with chocolate, you really get the full coconut cream taste melting in your mouth. These are also truly amazing. They are made with the same ingredients of coconut cream, brown rice syrup, evaporated cane juice, sea salt, and xantham gum. That's it. I gave some to some non-vegans and they were floored by how good they were.

The naked Cocomels come in original, java, sea salt, and vanilla. I loved the java flavor as you can actually taste the java bits inside.

These decadent, melt-in-your-mouth caramels will transport you to a caramel wonderland from which you may never want to return. To get there, you'll have to buy some of these caramels, which you can find at Amazon here. While you are doing that, I'm going to bathe my body in a sea of Cocomels...one can dream, can't she?!

Gnosis Chocolate

A couple of years ago, I purchased some Gnosis raw chocolate bars through the Daily Gourmet and found them to be very bitter and not at all tasty so I wrote about that. Since then, the owner claimed that I must have received a bad batch, but never sent me new ones so I kept the review posted as is. In the meantime, a bunch of people told me they really liked their bars and suggested I give them a second chance. Sure, why not. So when the owner contacted me recently, I suggested she send me some new samples and, boy, was I surprised.

Gnosis bars are really good. In fact, based on this most recent experience, I'd say that Gnosis makes some of the best raw chocolate bars on the market -- hands down. Gnosis was created by Vanessa Barg just six years ago. She was on track to go to medical school when she realized that food was the best medicine so she switched direction and trained at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition instead. She heard a presentation about the benefits of raw chocolate by world-renowned raw foods expert, David Wolfe, and decided to develop raw chocolate using superfoods that would be great tasting and healthy. And so Gnosis was born.

She sent me three of her chocolate bars and a raw trail mix and I have to admit they were all good. My favorite bar was the LuckChoc. This was the one I put off till last because it didn't sound all that appetizing. It seemed like the healthiest one as it was made with Vitamineral Greens, clover powder, irish moss, and blue-green algae. But, how would that taste in a chocolate bar? The answer is that it tastes amazing. I found the bar to be rich and creamy when I first bit into it, then it finished with the taste of those unusual ingredients and it was truly delightful.

I also loved the Immunity bar. This 70% raw cacao bar is made with chai spice, currants, herbs, and coconut palm sugar. This bar was also quite rich and you could really taste the delightful mix of rose hips, ginger, cardamom, ginseng, and cloves along with the peptias. It was the cardamom that really gave it the oomph.

I also enjoyed the Coco Almond bar, but found it a bit drier than the others. It was still a nice mix of almonds, coconut flakes, maca root, mesquite, cordyceps, and love. :-)

Then there is the Raw Trail Mix in PowerChoc. This is sooo good. It's a superfood trial mix with fruits and nuts that is rich in protein and omegas for long-lasting energy. It's a scrumptious mix of chocolate, almonds, goji berries, currants, hemp seeds, and cacao nibs. I loved how soft the goji berries were -- not dried out at all like many other brands. I feel like I could eat this every day!

Best of all, it is raw chocolate. Raw chocolate is less processed and rich in nutrients and antioxidants. Many people think it is much healthier than roasted chocolate because it has not been heated above 118-degrees, therefore all the goodness remains intact.

What I like most about this company is how they are conscious in every way. Vanessa works directly with the suppliers and farmers to ensure integrity. She visits her suppliers in Belize, Grenada, Mexico, and Indonesia to ensure quality and fair labor practices. All of the chocolate is certified organic, certified vegan, kosher, gluten-free, and Non-GMO Project Verified. 

Most of the bars sell for $6.99 each while the specialty bars are as expensive as $9.25 each. The trail mix is $12.99 per bag. They also make hot chocolate, truffles, and spreads. So while not cheap, I will say that the chocolate with its healthy, organic, superfoods is well worth the price. Do yourself a favor and give yourself the gift of fine, raw chocolate. Your body will thank you for it later. You can order direct here. In the meantime, I'll be removing my previous review as this one better reflects my current views.

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

Flow Foods - Chocolatl

One way to really boost the level of antioxidants in your body is to consume raw chocolate. Raw chocolate is pure chocolate that is minimally processed and is an abundant source of beta-carotene, zinc, chromium, and magnesium. There are many raw chocolate producers in the industry and one of my favorites is Flow Foods. Flow Foods makes raw chocolate pieces, bars, and chocolate sauce.

I found their chocolates when I was shopping in Berkeley, California. They call their brand "Chocolatl" and it is one of the finest raw chocolates on the market. The chocolate pieces come in three flavors and I love all of them.

My favorite is the Goji-Maca. Made with the purest of ingredients including raw cacao, coconut sugar, raw cacao butter, raw cacao powder, maca root, goji berries, mesquite pod meal, shilajit, vanilla bean, and Himalayan salt, the mix of maca powder and goji berries will knock your socks off. You will get the richness of raw chocolate sweetened with coconut sugar with the added layer of goji berries in chocolate pieces that are just the right thickness for snacking. And, just so you know, maca root is great for increasing energy and endurance so this a great snack to eat prior to running a race!

The Cordyceps-Maca flavor was also very good as it is made with cordyceps mushrooms, maca root, and lucuma. I love that these chocolate pieces are covered in cacao nibs for extra crunchiness too. Cordyceps mushrooms have many health benefits as touted by Chinese medicine. Whoever thought you could have great chocolate with so many health benefits built in?!

There is also a Mystic Mint flavor that includes a 5-mushroom blend, maca root, and wild blue-green algae. Blue-green algae is a good source of protein, b-vitamins, and iron.

Additionally, they came out with a number of chocolate bars. The only one I had the pleasure of trying was the Illuminate Bar made with cacao, coconut crystals, and cacao butter. I found the bar to be a smoother texture and taste than the chocolate pieces. It was also very good.

They say that Chocolatl is "a delicious treat that heightens mental and physical well being with essential antioxidants, minerals, and uplifting brain chemicals." I believe that to be true as raw cacao provides five times more antioxidants that roasted chocolate.  And I love that most of the ingredients are organic as well. To buy some for yourself, you can order the chocolate pieces for $7.99 per box or the bars for $4.25 each here. Now you can have your chocolate and eat it too.

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion. 

Salazon Chocolate

Fine vegan chocolate is becoming more prevalent in the United States, much to my pleasing. But who knew a fine vegan chocolatier was lurking in Sykesville, Maryland -- a small town close to where my family lives. Immediately my biases took over and I figured if it was made in Maryland, it wouldn't be that good. Boy, was I wrong. Salazon Chocolate is incredibly decadent, fine roasted chocolate and I guarantee you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

Salazon is Spanish for salted and Salazon Chocolate Co. claims it is the first salted-chocolate based brand. They chose Spanish to pay homage to the Spanish speaking regions (including the Dominican Republic) that have played such a pivotal role in the cultivation and development of cacao and chocolate. All of the flavors incorporate sea salt, which enhances the flavor of the chocolate. And four out of five of the bars are vegan.

Every bar was delicious. I especially liked the Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Turbinado Cane Sugar. The rich 57% cocoa is laced with sea salt and turbinado sugar for the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

The simplest one is probably the most elegant -- the Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt. The touch of sea salt brings out the chocolate's flavors while balancing the sweetness of sugar and bitterness of cocoa.

The Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper is fantastic. Again, just the right amount of sea salt mixed with black pepper and dusted onto the back of the chocolate bar. This allows your tongue to take in the flavors of the salt and pepper before biting into the chocolate perfection. Then it all mixes in your mouth for a wildly sensuous ride.

I kept the Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt & Crushed Coffee for last because I'm not a big coffee fan. But, this bar was really good mostly because the coffee is just dusted onto the back of it rather than mixed in so it isn't overpowering at all.

I absolutely love that they are certified organic, fair trade, and Rainforest Alliance Certified. This means that the organic cacao beans are farmed using sustainable and environmentally sensitive methods, and where the farmers are paid and treated fairly (most own their own plots and are part of a farmer supported co-op). Rainforest Alliance certification is built on the three pillars of sustainability - environmental protection, social equity and economic viability. No single pillar can support long-term success on its own, so they help farmers succeed in all three areas!

The bars are also Kosher, Non-GMO (because they are organic), and Gluten-Free. If you can't find them locally, you can buy them online for $4 per bar here. They will also be introducing three new 72% cocoa vegan bars this year. I can't wait to try them!

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

Amella Caramels - Coconut Almond

Amella has done it again. First, they blew me away with their vegan gray salt caramels and now they've come out with vegan coconut almond caramels! What next?

Each caramel is made by hand by stirring organic coconut flakes into the caramel base adding a coconutty texture to each morsel. Then they top each caramel with a lightly roasted organic California almond before enrobing it in 66% cocoa dark chocolate creating a deliciously satisfying chocolate coconut almond morsel.

As always, Amella uses no refined sugar and sources organic products when possible. And they are Non-GMO Project Verified, gluten-free, and Kosher. I have to say that I still like the vegan gray salt caramels better, but these are a great addition to their growing line of vegan caramels. Keep them coming!

They sell two packs of six for $25. To order some for yourself, click here.

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

Missionary Chocolates - Vegan Truffles

Perhaps I'm on a bit of a chocolate truffle kick. Whatever. When I was in Portland and saw that there was a local truffle company called Missionary Chocolates, I just had to try their truffles. Missionary Chocolates was founded in 2008 by Melissa Berry, a Naturopathic Physician. She started by giving her truffles away as gifts and a few months later won first place in the Northwest Chocolate Festival. And just like that, her business began. She is hoping to someday build an inpatient, integrative healing center in Portland funded solely by the chocolate.

I just bought a small box of two truffles. The Meyer Lemon Explosion is just that. Super lemony with a thick, rich soft center. There is something that is so right in these handcrafted jewels.

The other one I tried was the Spicy Cinnamon Chipotle. There was so much kick to this one, it almost caught me off guard. Loved it!

If you'd like to try them for yourself, you can order them online here for $3 each.

Amella - Vegan Caramels

One of my favorite things in this world are caramels. But not just caramel sauce -- my favorite is the chocolate-covered caramel. So far, only a few vegan versions of this confection have satisfied my tastebuds and now I'll add Amella Caramels to that list.

Amella is not your typical all-vegan caramel company. They are a company specializing in caramels and have just come out with a vegan caramel, which is all the better as I know they truly know their caramels.  Take a bite into one of these caramels and your tastebuds will light up from pure enjoyment.  Made with organic coconut milk and organic raw blue agave nectar, this caramel is as buttery as any great caramel you've ever had.

But they didn't stop there -- they enrobed it in organic dark 66% chocolate and topped it with sel gris, a sea salt from France, to make one of the most decadent caramels ever satisfying both your sweet and salty cravings. The caramel is soft, yet buttery and the chocolate is smooth, yet oh so rich. They say the secret ingredient is the pure cocoa butter. No matter what it is, they truly have perfected this caramel.

And with no refined sugars or preservatives, it is as good-for-you as a chocolate-covered caramel could be. These caramels are certified vegan, gluten-free, and Kosher as well as Non-GMO Project Verified. They are sold in 2-piece grab & go packs or 6-piece boxes. Online, two 6-piece boxes sell for $25 with no shipping charges. Trust me, you'll want to get your hands (or your mouth) on one of these caramels soon. Yum!

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion. 

Living Raw

The best product I tried at the entire Expo West show was the Living Raw truffles. Living Raw is small company that just makes raw truffles. Each truffle is hand-crafted with wholesome ingredients that are all raw, organic, vegan, gluten-free, and non-GMO. So why was I so excited about these raw truffles? Because they are some of the best I've ever had--no joke!

These truffles are the most decadent raw truffles you will ever try. They are incredibly large and super soft and smooth. Take the Coconut Karma Truffles made with cacao powder, cacao butter, coconut oil, agave, coconut, vanilla, and pink Himalayan sea salt. This truffle will leave you saying, "wow," as bite into its smooth coconut-covered outside only to find chocolate goodness inside.

The Kickin' Cayenne Truffles were just as good with that bit of spice that I like! There were chunks of cacao nibs layered with cayenne all throughout each truffle! Goodness gracious.

But, perhaps best of all were the Darkest Cacao Truffles coated with huge cacao nibs. These must be enjoyed with a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Why raw? As Living Raw states, "raw food is unprocessed living food, complete with all of its naturally occurring enzymes and vitamins. Raw foods do not undergo any blanching, chemical bleaching, pasteurization or altering of any kind. Eating food in its natural state is a simple way of eating, and it's easy to incorporate into our daily lives. Making wise choices with food habits will add up to make a profound difference in our lives and in our bodies." I couldn't have said it better myself.

This is perfection in a raw truffle. No two ways about it.

If you'd like to try them yourself, you can order them here. A container of 9 truffles costs $18 with free shipping and believe me, it is totally worth it. These would make a great gift! 

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influences my veracious opinion.