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Plant-based eating has become very popular in the past couple of years, and the reasons for its popularity just keep on growing. Whether you’re concerned about your personal health or the sustainability of the planet, cutting out animal products and going vegan is one of the best things you can do to make a major impact.
But for people who want to go vegan but love their sweets and desserts, it begs an important question: does that mean you have to cut out chocolate?
Luckily, the answer is no, not necessarily! Here’s how you can go vegan and still enjoy your favorite decadent chocolate treats.
What is veganism?
Veganism is the practice of not using any animal products. The most popular type of veganism is dietary veganism, which involves cutting out meat, dairy, and other foods that use animals in their production, although many vegans also avoid using other animal products like leather or fur.
People decide to go vegan for a variety of reasons including religion, minimizing their carbon footprints, improving their health, and over concerns about the ethical treatment of animals used in food and textile production.
Is Chocolate Vegan?
The good news here: at its core, chocolate is vegan-friendly! This is because chocolate actually comes from a plant — more specifically, the cacao tree.
How Chocolate Is Made
Chocolate is made from the beans of cacao trees. After the cacao beans are picked, they’re processed and roasted at high temperatures to mellow out the bitter flavors and make sweeter-tasting cocoa. From there, the cocoa beans are ground into a powder, which is then used to make the chocolate you know and love today.
So chocolate itself is just made from plants, making it suitable for vegans. It’s also pretty healthy, boasting a huge number of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds!
But the issue becomes a bit more complex when you start adding other ingredients to the cocoa powder to make the final product. Things like milk, honey, and even sugar can make the final chocolate product non-vegan.
What To Look For When Looking For Vegan Chocolate
If you are vegan, there are a couple of key considerations to keep in mind when you’re shopping around for chocolates. Ideally, a chocolate bar will say that it is “vegan” or “plant-based” on its label. But if you’re unsure, here are a couple of over things to keep in mind.
When you’re looking for a vegan-friendly chocolate bar, a good rule of thumb is that the darker the chocolate is, the better. The percentage on the label refers to the amount of cocoa present versus any other ingredients like milk and sugar. So the higher the percentage of dark chocolate, the fewer additives and flavorings there are. Meanwhile, “milk chocolate” contains 50% or less actual chocolate and, as the name suggests, contains added milk and other sweeteners, rendering the chocolate bar non-vegan.
However, looking for dark chocolate and sticking with a high cocoa percentage alone doesn’t guarantee that your chocolate bar is vegan. It might still contain other additives and ingredients that make the bar non-vegan, so it’s important to still read through the ingredient list and nutrition labels to ensure you aren’t compromising on your vegan diet. Some ingredients to keep an eye out for and avoid on your hunt for good vegan chocolate include:
- Milk: As we already mentioned, cow’s milk is one of the most common ingredients added to chocolate to mellow out the bitter flavors and add some sweetness. Milk can also show up on a nutrition label under other, less-obvious terms like “casein,” “curd,” “whey,” “lactose”, and “rennet.” It’s also possible that your dark chocolate bar can become cross-contaminated with dairy from milk chocolate products that are produced on the same equipment.
- Honey: Honey is a popular sweetener in many sweets and chocolates. But of course, honey is made by bees, which means that some vegans choose to avoid it completely.
- Refined sugar: Even sugar can make a candy bar non-vegan! Refined sugars (the highly processed, pure-white sugar you are probably familiar with) are often filtered through bone char from cattle to get them white. Avoid any chocolate bars that contain added or refined sugars — or better yet, choose chocolates that are sweetened with fruits like dates!
That said, you don’t have to rule out the mellower, sweet tastes of milk chocolate completely and stick only to dark chocolate to satisfy your chocolate craving. Some milk chocolate and even white chocolate options might actually be vegan-friendly if they’re made with plant “milk” instead of cow milk! For example, chocolates that are sweetened with coconut milk or almond milk are vegan-friendly as long as there are no other animal products listed in the ingredients.
The bottom line here is that it’s always important to read the label, especially if the chocolate doesn’t specify that it’s vegan-friendly.
What about chocolate fillings?
As any chocolate lover knows, many chocolate bars are made with more than just chocolate alone. Many dark chocolate bars also have mix-ins, add-ons, and fillings like nuts, sea salt, fruits, nougats, caramels, and jams. These are great options for adding some sweetness to bitter dark chocolates.
But while these can help sweeten the inherent bitter taste of darker chocolates, certain ingredients can also make a chocolate bar non-vegan. Again, make sure to read the ingredients list on the nutrition label to determine whether those bars are suitable for your vegan needs.
Some common chocolate fillings that might include milk, butter, or other animal-based products include nougat, caramels, and some nut butter.
Final Thoughts
Good chocolate is one of the simplest and most delicious joys in life, and the good news is that you don’t have to give up chocolate if you decide to go vegan. Sticking with high-percentage dark chocolate and shopping with brands that cater to plant-based eaters gives you plenty of options for indulging in chocolate treats without compromising on your beliefs or your health practices.