Is All Dark Chocolate Vegan?
Blog post by Lindsay Mustard, Holistic Nutritionist
Is all dark chocolate vegan-friendly? Short answer - no. Some dark chocolate contains dairy-based ingredients such as milk or butter. This may come as a surprise, but dairy is not the ingredient in chocolate that is responsible for its rich, chocolatey taste! That would be the cocoa butter! In this blog post, we will be sharing the differences between the high quality, vegan dark chocolate and the other offerings on the market. We’ll be breaking them down by ingredient, cocoa percentage and their flavour profile. If you weren’t already craving chocolate, you’re about to be!
Ingredients In Dark Chocolate:
Turn over any dark chocolate bar and you will likely see the following ingredients; cacao butter, cacao/cocoa powder, emulsifier (ie: soy lethicin), sugar (white, brown, coconut, maple...etc), vanilla, flavourings and nuts/seeds. Some brands contain milk and list the ingredient as milk solids.
It is common to find that the less cocoa contained within a chocolate bar, the more likely it is to contain dairy. This is because a lower cocoa percentage results in a sweeter tasting bar. Most consumers, if they are looking for a sweeter bar, prefer the taste of milk chocolate, compared to dark chocolate. This is because of the sweetness that dairy offers. Dairy, when consumed, contains a sugar called lactose. Although it isn’t nearly as sweet as white sugar, lactose still elicits a sugar response within the body and contributes a sweet taste to the bar. Dark chocolate on the other hand, unless it lists milk as an ingredient, is commonly vegan, and is bitter. The higher percentage of cocoa, results in a more bitter, richer tasting bar that appeals to the other half of the chocolate lovers.
The Benefits of Dark Chocolate:
Dark chocolate, or cacao, is linked to a neurotransmitter called serotonin. Serotonin is a key hormone that helps to stabilize our mood, regulate feelings of well-being and overall levels of happiness. In other words, the more serotonin that is released, the happier you feel! Dark chocolate contains an amino acid named tryptophan which is a precursor for serotonin. This is only one of the brain chemicals that is linked to eating chocolate! When one consumes dark chocolate, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin are released and form a trio that is responsible for our feelings of happiness and our boost in mood. Oxytocin is a powerful neurotransmitter that helps to regulate our emotional responses and behaviours such as our levels of trust, empathy, ability to bond with others, recall positive memories and general feelings of positivity. When dark chocolate isn’t busy at work helping to make us feel happier and calmer, it is providing us with a boost in energy! Depending on the strength of the chocolate, bars with over 70% cacao can contain up to 30 mg of caffeine. It’s a small enough amount to wake you up and give you a jolt of energy that is sustained by the healthy fats paired in the chocolate. If that wasn’t enough, dark chocolate promotes glowing, healthy skin, offers a plant-based source of magnesium and iron and helps to relieve muscular and menstrual cramping.
Shopping for Dark Chocolate:
When shopping for dark chocolate, you’ll want to look for four things. The first, the Fair-Trade symbol on the package. Fair-trade is your guarantee that a product was traded in a more ethical way, which supports better working conditions, improves livelihoods and protects the environment. The second thing to look for is the vegan symbol. This ensures that your chocolate is dairy-free and contains zero animal products. The third thing to look for is the cocoa percentage. If you are looking for a true dark chocolate, look for bars over 70% cacao. Zazubean offers a range of superfood dark chocolate bars ranging from 70-90% cacao. The higher the percentage, the more bitter and richer the flavour - try them all to discover your favourite. The last thing to look for when chocolate shopping is the amount of sugar in the bar. Ideally, the lower the number, the better it is for you and your health. Zazubean crafts their vegan, fairly-traded and organic chocolate using coconut sugar, a lower glycemic and more sustainably sourced sweetener compared to conventional white sugar, and stevia to sweeten their bars. Look for a bar that contains little to no sugar, or uses stevia or a sugar alcohol like Zazubean Chocolate does, the next time you are in the chocolate aisle!