What is vegan chocolate?

Real dark chocolate should be vegan, or 100% plant-based. Image by @moniqa

I often get asked for vegan chocolate. It may seem like an obvious answer to those who consume a lot of fine chocolate, but for the general public it may not be so. Here we are discussing just solid chocolate bars, not chocolate confections such as truffles, ganaches, and bonbons.

Dark chocolate should always be vegan or 100% plant based. That is, high quality dark chocolate. Dark chocolate contains cocoa bean, ground up with some sugar. Sometimes extra cocoa butter is added to the recipe. However, don’t be confused by the word “butter” here. Cocoa butter is just the word for the fat derived from the cocoa bean, it is not actually butter derived from dairy or any animal. It is derived from the cocoa seed.

There are also many flavoured chocolate bars that include other plant-based ingredients such as nuts, fruits, spices, and so on. If you’re ever unsure, just check the ingredients list. The following ingredients are common non-vegan ingredients you may see:

• milk powder

• whey powder (found in lower quality commercial chocolate)

• gelatin (for commercial candies, not fine chocolate)

Milk chocolate obviously contains milk powder, which is not vegan. However, any dark chocolate or flavoured dark chocolate should not contain any animal-based ingredients. The only time you may see this, is in lower quality commercial dark chocolates which may contain whey powder, or commercial chocolate candies that may contain gelatin.

All the dark chocolate bars (not milk chocolate) on this website are 100% plant based. They contain cocoa bean, sugar, and sometimes extra cocoa butter. Click here to see all the 100% plant-based chocolate bars sold at Bean To Bar World. There are many! And if you’re looking specifically for vegan/plant-based milk chocolate bars, you can find some delicious vegan milk chocolate bars here.