Is Dark Chocolate Vegan?

Published on doisyanddam.com

Tell someone, anyone, who is not vegan that you are vegan and they will probably decide – whether internally or vocally – that you live in a commune and churn your own dairy-free yoghurt. ‘I could never be vegan’, they will say. Vegans bathe in beetroot juice. Vegans are lizards underneath all their clothes. Vegans can’t eat chocolate.

Now we won’t comment on the bathing habits of individuals, nor the texture of their skin, but we will confirm, here and now, that last one about chocolate is just not true. 

See, the fact about chocolate is that it’s made from the beans of the cocoa tree. It’s entirely plant-based. Which means that dark chocolate should, in theory, always be vegan. A high quality dark chocolate will have a very short list of ingredients, consisting of little more than cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar and (sometimes) vanilla. No milk or dairy in sight.

There is a pretty big ‘but’, though. See, lesser quality brands will often add milk or milk fat – along with various other low-cost, artificial fillers – in the manufacturing of dark chocolate. They do this to bulk out the bar, since less room for cocoa content means cheaper production costs. 

It’s important to always check the label, and be aware, too, that dairy products can be disguised in all sorts of sciencey terms. Albumin, for example, is taken from egg whites, whilst stearic acid is animal fat. Whey, casein and lactose are all milk derivatives, and any cholesterol level greater than zero can only be due to animal products. 

So, to sum up: good dark chocolate is vegan. High cocoa content, minimal ingredients, Bob’s your aunt.

Not-so-good dark chocolate is, er, not-so-vegan. Long old list of ingredients, suspicious sciencey terms, Bob is merely a bloke in your aunt’s dress. 

While you’re here…

At Doisy and Dam, all of our dark chocolate is 100% vegan chocolate. We will always deliver a high cocoa content. And it’s our promise that our bars will never have more than 8 ingredients; they will contain a minimum of 8% nutrient-rich superfoods, and we’ll aim to produce them with at least 30% less sugar than their market alternatives. 

…They’re also really, really nice.