By Franzi
The food industry has made it more than clear in recent years that vegan alternatives can now keep up with conventional, non-vegan products: There are vegan “sausage” cold cuts, vegan nuggets, cheese alternatives and so much more. The cliché that vegans only eat lettuce and seeds is long gone! A vegan lifestyle no longer stands in the way of enjoying chocolate. Of course there is also chocolate that does not contain any animal products. The range of vegan chocolate is not just limited to dark chocolate varieties. In this text we want to give you a brief overview of when chocolate is vegan, what exciting vegan chocolate options are available and where you can buy them!
To briefly bring us all on the same page: Vegan products do not contain any animal products, so they do not contain ingredients such as milk, butter and eggs. However, many conventional chocolates from the supermarket contain milk, milk powder or butter fat, so they are not vegan. Another non-vegan ingredient that many sweets contain is shellac. Shellac is made from lice excretions and gives red chocolate beans their color, for example.
Basically, dark chocolate is almost always vegan. The “actually” is important in this context. Even though you don't need more than cocoa mass and sugar to make good dark chocolate, some manufacturers add butterfat to their dark chocolate, for example, to make it creamier and to be able to produce it more economically. Because butterfat is significantly cheaper than cocoa butter.
When it comes to fine dark chocolate, manufacturers use cocoa butter instead of butterfat in the production of chocolate to make it extra creamy. Don't let the "butter" ingredient confuse you: to put it simply, cocoa butter is the fat content of the cocoa bean and is therefore vegan!
Depending on how strictly you interpret veganism, it is also exciting to look at the sugar component in chocolate. The two main sources of sugar production, sugar cane and sugar beets, are plants. So sugar is basically vegan. However, some manufacturers purify the sugar with animal bone components. Whether sugar is considered vegan depends on how it is produced and how strict the person is. Many fine chocolate manufacturers use unrefined cane sugar for their chocolates.
Of course, there are now many manufacturers who specifically label their chocolate so that the “VEGAN” symbol literally catches your eye. However, labels are expensive and many smaller manufacturers in particular rely on their consumers' ability to make judgments and save themselves the expensive labeling process. So when do I know if my chocolate is vegan?
The top rule, which is certainly not news for vegans: check the list of ingredients! As already mentioned, many dark chocolates are virtually naturally vegan and are not specifically labeled vegan. If there is no animal product on the ingredients list, you are on the safe side!
By the way, the addition “May contain traces of milk/eggs” shouldn’t unsettle you. Manufacturers who process products containing allergens in their factories are obliged to print this notice. These products are usually not even made in the same machines. The note only refers to microparticles that can float through the air and is only aimed at people with severe allergies.
An ingredient that you often find on the ingredients list of industrial chocolate is lecithin. The most commonly used is soy lecithin, while a rather rare one is sunflower lecithin. Both are basically vegan. If you are interested in the topic of lecithin in chocolate, we have already written a detailed article about it.
Even though dark chocolate is often vegan, that doesn't mean that vegans have to do without other types of chocolate. There are now numerous alternatives to replace milk ingredients such as whey powder or butter in chocolate. From almond flour to coconut milk or oats, almost any vegan milk alternative can also be packed in chocolate, making the beloved "milk" chocolate easily vegan!
We can also reassure vegan lovers of white chocolate: of course there is now also vegan white chocolate. Classic white chocolate consists of cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder. With the vegan version, the manufacturers also simply replace the milk powder with a vegan option.
And of course there are now also numerous exciting, vegan chocolate creations. From vegan pistachio chocolate to cruelty-free chocolates and unusual creations such as beetroot chocolate.
You see, it is definitely no longer a problem to find vegan chocolate these days. You can find a selection of our vegan products here . In addition to the question of whether the chocolate is vegan, is it also important to you to find fine and fairly produced chocolate? Feel free to read our blog post with the 4 most important tips on what you should pay attention to when buying chocolate !
When is chocolate vegan?
To briefly bring us all on the same page: Vegan products do not contain any animal products, so they do not contain ingredients such as milk, butter and eggs. However, many conventional chocolates from the supermarket contain milk, milk powder or butter fat, so they are not vegan. Another non-vegan ingredient that many sweets contain is shellac. Shellac is made from lice excretions and gives red chocolate beans their color, for example.Basically, dark chocolate is almost always vegan. The “actually” is important in this context. Even though you don't need more than cocoa mass and sugar to make good dark chocolate, some manufacturers add butterfat to their dark chocolate, for example, to make it creamier and to be able to produce it more economically. Because butterfat is significantly cheaper than cocoa butter.
When it comes to fine dark chocolate, manufacturers use cocoa butter instead of butterfat in the production of chocolate to make it extra creamy. Don't let the "butter" ingredient confuse you: to put it simply, cocoa butter is the fat content of the cocoa bean and is therefore vegan!
Depending on how strictly you interpret veganism, it is also exciting to look at the sugar component in chocolate. The two main sources of sugar production, sugar cane and sugar beets, are plants. So sugar is basically vegan. However, some manufacturers purify the sugar with animal bone components. Whether sugar is considered vegan depends on how it is produced and how strict the person is. Many fine chocolate manufacturers use unrefined cane sugar for their chocolates.
How do I know if my chocolate is vegan?
Of course, there are now many manufacturers who specifically label their chocolate so that the “VEGAN” symbol literally catches your eye. However, labels are expensive and many smaller manufacturers in particular rely on their consumers' ability to make judgments and save themselves the expensive labeling process. So when do I know if my chocolate is vegan?The top rule, which is certainly not news for vegans: check the list of ingredients! As already mentioned, many dark chocolates are virtually naturally vegan and are not specifically labeled vegan. If there is no animal product on the ingredients list, you are on the safe side!
By the way, the addition “May contain traces of milk/eggs” shouldn’t unsettle you. Manufacturers who process products containing allergens in their factories are obliged to print this notice. These products are usually not even made in the same machines. The note only refers to microparticles that can float through the air and is only aimed at people with severe allergies.
An ingredient that you often find on the ingredients list of industrial chocolate is lecithin. The most commonly used is soy lecithin, while a rather rare one is sunflower lecithin. Both are basically vegan. If you are interested in the topic of lecithin in chocolate, we have already written a detailed article about it.
Why vegan chocolate isn't just dark
Even though dark chocolate is often vegan, that doesn't mean that vegans have to do without other types of chocolate. There are now numerous alternatives to replace milk ingredients such as whey powder or butter in chocolate. From almond flour to coconut milk or oats, almost any vegan milk alternative can also be packed in chocolate, making the beloved "milk" chocolate easily vegan!We can also reassure vegan lovers of white chocolate: of course there is now also vegan white chocolate. Classic white chocolate consists of cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder. With the vegan version, the manufacturers also simply replace the milk powder with a vegan option.
And of course there are now also numerous exciting, vegan chocolate creations. From vegan pistachio chocolate to cruelty-free chocolates and unusual creations such as beetroot chocolate.
You see, it is definitely no longer a problem to find vegan chocolate these days. You can find a selection of our vegan products here . In addition to the question of whether the chocolate is vegan, is it also important to you to find fine and fairly produced chocolate? Feel free to read our blog post with the 4 most important tips on what you should pay attention to when buying chocolate !
