Apart from vegan food, which includes mock-meats, vegan eggs and non-dairy milk, there is also a notable movement taking place in one of our beloved sweet indulgences, i.e., chocolates. Be it for lifting our mood, or a treat to woo someone special or those grand Indian festival goodies, chocolates have been on equal footing with traditional sweets. During Diwali this year, when I decided to gift vegan chocolates, the information about how to choose the right one felt delimited. The idea was not just about vegan but also about chocolates that take less toll on the environment. And some online searches and information exchanges led me to an expert in the field. As we celebrate World Vegan Day on November 1, let's learn more about vegan chocolate.
To get in-depth knowledge about the subject, we spoke to L Nitin Chordia, Co-Founder of Kocoatrait, the world's first luxury, zero waste, vegan, eco-friendly, sustainable bean-to-bar chocolate brand. He is also India's first certified chocolate taster.
Q. Vegan chocolates and India: can you explain the equation?
Firstly, it is essential to differentiate between compound and chocolate. Compounds are what most of the country consumes in the name of chocolate. Compounds substitute cocoa butter, a natural occurrence in pure chocolate, with hydrogenated vegetable oils (mainly to reduce costs) and are also vegan. Hence, we should not symbolise and generalise all 'Vegan' chocolates as healthy.
Q. Is dark chocolate vegan-friendly?
Most dark chocolates are supposed to be vegan. A dark chocolate variant gives the chocolate maker a chance to bring out cacao's intense and unique flavour potential into the bar. Consumers can experience the pure cacao flavour only in dark a.k.a vegan chocolate.
Dark chocolate
Several flavour pairings are possible with vegan chocolates. While they do require some skill in making, pure dark a.k.a vegan chocolates, have merit in being called healthy. However, in India, mass-produced dark chocolates also contain milk solids. This is done to mask non-premium ingredients and is used to keep costs low. Any addition of milk to chocolate leaves it an indulgence product, as it limits the body's ability to absorb the antioxidants. Hence, it cannot be called a healthy treat.
Q. What ingredients are used for vegan chocolates?
Pure vegan chocolates use the following ingredients: Cocoa beans / cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, and emulsifiers. Compounds use highly processed cocoa powder instead of cocoa beans/mass and hydrogenated vegetable oils (like palm kernel oil) instead of cocoa butter and are priced low.
Q. Does it impact the taste?
Pure vegan chocolates are meant to bring out the character of cocoa. Recently, we have seen the addition of vegan mylk, like oats, almonds, soya, rice etc., in chocolates to add a bit of creaminess, nuttiness and flavour to vegan chocolates. In the case of compounds, the aim is not really taste/ flavour. The idea is to manufacture a low-priced mass product which can be sold as a substitute for chocolate. One cannot and should not expect the taste of a compound to impress upon a consumer.
Q. How vegan chocolate response has been in India so far?
The absolute growth in dark a.k.a vegan chocolates over the last 3-4 years in India is awe-inspiring. During this Diwali season, vegan chocolates accounted for over 90% of sales, and this I am sharing from my personal experience.
Banana chocolate bar, Image Source: Kocoatrait
The vegan food culture has a lot to be given credit for buying it, also the health-conscious consumer who drives the sale of vegan chocolates. Vegan chocolates have been accepted well, and the demand is growing at an unprecedented pace. The future, as they say in chocolate, is for dark chocolate.
Q. Is there a way an Indian vegan chocolate consumer can get the correct information?
We conduct tasting sessions to inform Indian consumers about the benefits of paying more for chocolate bars and ensure farmers are well compensated, promoting sustainability. At Cocoashala, India's first bean-to-bar chocolate institute, we have been teaching farmers and other business owners how to make sustainable bean-to-bar chocolate. This supports India in developing ethical chocolate producers.
Cocoa bean, Image Source: Kocoatrait
Q. Which are the most moving flavours and demand of new flavours you receive from people.
There are always two sets of consumers. The first group likes plain dark chocolate experiences without any flavour addition, and the other prefers flavours and/or inclusions in chocolate. We have seen salt and fruits/nuts as the most requested flavours. This year, we were asked to create a fusion of Indian sweets with chocolate. We crafted the boondi ka ladoo and gajar ka halwa for this season.
Dark Chocolate Espresso
At the moment, Kocoatrait's three goods aren't vegan. They have A2 milk, which is regarded to have better flavour. It purchases them from farms that have earned self-certification as being cruelty-free. However, it intends to phase out these variations as shortly as possible.