What does vegan chocolate contain? Differences with the traditional one

Those who have chosen a diet free from ingredients of animal origin know it well: chocolate is not always vegan. It is therefore important to know what vegan chocolate contains and when it can be considered truly 100% vegetable.

Why a vegan chocolate?

Where does theneed for a vegan chocolate? Chocolate, being of plant origin, isn’t it always vegan? In fact the answer is no. As it is easy to guess from the name, the milk chocolate it is called that because it contains cow milkwhich makes it unsuitable for those who don’t eat animal ingredients or who are lactose intolerant. From this it follows that, in principle, the dark chocolate it is the safest from the point of view of the content, being free of milk. But this statement is not always true. To make it more palatable and to give it a more aromatic and enveloping flavour, it happens that dark chocolate is also added, albeit minimally, non-vegetable ingredientssuch as honey, butter and other flavourings.

So what does vegan chocolate contain?

Perhaps it would make more sense to formulate the question the other way around: so what does vegan chocolate not contain? Surely, of course, does not contain powdered milk. It is easy to guess that instead of milk, its own are used vegetable substitutes, such as oat milk or rice or coconut powder. Therefore, vegan chocolate does not contain cow’s milk It does not contain not even the sugars contained in powdered milk, i.e lactose and galactosealso of animal origin. Forbiddenof course, also i animal fats such as butter. However, by mixing cocoa butter with hazelnut oil, a type of fat with characteristics similar to butter can be obtained.

White chocolate and vegan milk chocolate

Until 10-15 years ago the market did not offer a large choice of vegan products but nowadays things have changed a lot. Having increased greatly the demand for plant-based alternatives to traditional dishes, the food industry had to adapt. Hence the big confectionery brands rather than smaller companies operating in the settore “free from” offer white or milk chocolate bars made with coconut milk or almond flour, rice drink powder or cashew or macadamia butter.

Pay attention to the label

If you want to be sure what’s in the chocolate bar you’re about to buy and make sure it’s vegan, get used to read the label carefully before purchase. First of all, what we must check on the label is the possible presence of milk powder. Also pay attention to LECITHINwhich is not always of plant origin. It could in fact derive from egg yolk. Even the presence of caramel should ring alarm bells, because it could be made with milk, eggs, or butter. Finally, the bar could also be completely vegetable but the indication on the label of any Palm oil it is already a clear indicator that that product is not vegan.