When I first started to think about going vegan, this question was heavy on my mind. You see, chocolate was more than just my favorite food. It was a source of connection to family, and the focus of childhood mischief.
Whenever I had friends sleep over, we would lie awake until my parents were solidly asleep- and then we’d sneak out to the kitchen and carefully climb on top of the counter to reach the highest cabinet where the chocolate was stashed away…This was actually my first confession at Sunday School.
Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate…at Schmilk Chocolate we love it all! It’s our pride and joy to deliver to you our very best vegan chocolates in these categories. Our goal was to expand the realm of chocolate vegans can eat. While quality dark chocolate is vegan friendly by default, this is not the case for milk chocolate or white chocolate. As a new vegan, I missed milk chocolate the most. It was a real sacrifice to part ways with the world’s favorite confection!
With Schmilk Chocolate, we have tackled this problem with gusto. After searching far and wide, and deep within, we found a lovely alternative for the dairy- formulated from the beloved cashew nut.
Which Chocolate Is Safe for Vegans to eat?
When deciding whether a chocolate bar is vegan friendly, check to make sure there are no dairy products like milk powder or milk fat. Some candy inclusions may even contain egg or gelatin, so be sure to read the label carefully. Another thing to consider is that most sugar is processed with bone char, a byproduct of the beef industry. You can be sure the sugar in a product is vegan friendly if the product is labeled as “vegan,” or “organic.”
It used to be the case that dairy free dark chocolate was the only option for vegan chocolate lovers, but no longer! With Schmilk Chocolate, we’ve studied milk chocolate closely, and the role each ingredient plays. Let’s take a closer look at the components of vegan chocolate.
The simplest chocolate recipe would just be cocoa beans that have been roasted, shelled, and ground, along with some amount of sugar. This would be a dark chocolate, that can be presented as gritty or smooth, depending on how thoroughly it’s ground. Many quality dark chocolates, like ours, also include some extra cocoa butter for added creaminess, a little vanilla, because it can flatter and accentuate the cocoa flavor, and a little lecithin, for an even smoother mouthfeel.
Quality milk chocolate belongs to a different taste category than dark chocolate, a special confection that’s rich, creamy, and without pronounced bitterness. Pure indulgence for milk chocolate lovers. Like dark chocolate, it contains cocoa beans, cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla and lecithin, but it also includes the addition of a creamy element. With udder-milk chocolate, this means dairy milk powder, and sometimes milkfat.
Our classic Schmilk is a milk chocolate vegans can eat! Our special cashew cream does a lovely job of balancing the bitterness of the cacao, and bringing the creamy and smooth. We also use organic cane sugar, completely free from animal products.
Beloved by kids and adults alike, white chocolate is a beautiful cream colored confection made from cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla and lecithin, and again, the creamy element. If you love white chocolate, check out The White Bar. Hallelujah!, a truly delicious white chocolate vegans can eat.
What makes chocolate vegan?
Veganism as a cultural ideal is about making food choices that promote peace and love on Earth. Being vegan is more than just eating plant-based for health. This principle inspires us to not only avoid exploiting animals, but also to avoid exploitation of our fellow humans. Our goal is to make a variety of chocolate vegans can eat, and feel great about.
Did you know that “cow hugging” is a growing trend- it helps people destress and feel good, while fostering interspecies friendship.
We melt fair trade cocoa liquor and butter gently, and add them to the grinder along with full flavored organic cane sugar, vanilla and soft sunflower lecithin. Our special Schmilk Chocolate is a milky-tasting chocolate vegans can eat, No animal products, and fairly traded ingredients.
For our milk style, and white chocolate, all we are doing is replacing the dairy ingredients with our very special, purely delectable cashew blend. Any plant-based ingredient would allow the chocolate to be vegan-friendly, but we have specially developed our toasted cashew cream recipe because it is the most delicious replacement.
Is White Chocolate Safe for Vegans to eat?
White chocolate is made with cocoa butter, but no ground cacao beans. There is no bitter component- it is rich, sweet and creamy. Schmilk Chocolate’s White Bar takes this soft sweet confection and elevates it. Instead of cheap factory farmed milk fat and milk powder, we use fresh and pure cashews.
We take the cashews and toast them gently to a light golden hue, before frothing them into a subtly nutty cashew cream. Of course ours is a white chocolate vegans can eat. Some people who say that white chocolate is too sweet and bland for them find they love our Schmilk White chocolate. Vegan white chocolate satisfaction- not too sweet, subtly nutty, golden and creamy.
Is Dark Chocolate Safe for Vegans to eat?
Dark chocolates vary by the quality of the cocoa beans used, and the percentage of cocoa present in the recipe. Cocoa beans are grown in tropical climates, and cocoa farming ranges from plantation-style mass production of plants bred primarily for high yield and hardiness, to gourmet small-scale operations where “fine flavor” cocoa plants are doted on, producing a range of exquisite chocolate flavors and aromas. Some fruity, some caramelly, some earthy, some deep and savory, these fine flavor beans are destined to be used to make beautiful vegan dark chocolate.
The beans that are mass produced plantation style are typically used in cheaper chocolates. The hardiness and the yield of the plants are the upside, but the downside is that the cocoa can be flat in flavor. Cheaper chocolates are then engineered around the weaker cacao flavor. It tends to be in cheaper dark chocolates that the chocolate is higher in sugar and sometimes a small amount of dairy and vanillin. If it’s made with udder-milk, it’s not chocolate vegans can eat.
Schmilk Chocolate’s Dark Bar is made with deeply chocolatey Peruvian cacao with a rich umami aroma. Of course it’s safe for vegans to eat. We take the high quality cocoa, and blend it seamlessly with organic vegan cane sugar, with some vanilla. Pure and simply delicious.
What other Candy is Safe for Vegans to eat?
In the world of candy, the ingredients vegans want to avoid are milk products, egg products, gelatin, and the most cheaply processed sugar, which is made with a byproduct of the beef industry- bone char. These days there are lots of exciting confections vegans can eat!
Have you ever heard of a chocolate covered roasted marshmallow? Neither had we, until the idea came to us one day! Our marshmallows are made without gelatin, and the sugar they’re made with is free from bone char. Roasted to perfection, and surrounded by delicious Schmilk Chocolate, they are a unique and super fun confection that vegans and their omni friends will delight in.
For vegans and the people who love them, we are so happy to present to you a complete selection of confections, all centered around the very best chocolates vegans can eat.
Everyday we feel a deep joy to be able to bring the world our unique cashew-based formulations for dairy-free vegan chocolates. No compromises, just pure indulgence.