Today is a trio of gifted chocolate and not just any chocolate. Conscious by name and conscious by nature is their motto and is the UK’s first raw, vegan chocolate brand. Yes it’s the Conscious Organic Raw Chocolate range.
All three bars are free from gluten, dairy, refined sugars, soya and palm oil. Everywhere you look they have thought of how to make this bar with as little impact on our planet as possible. Each bar is handcrafted in their Sussex kitchens, which is powered by 100% renewable energy sources.
Available in both 30g and 60g bars, you will find these at Amazon, TKMaxx, and independent health stores. You can also buy these on their website, which also showcases a wide variety of flavours. The small bar retails at £1.99 and the larger at £2.99.
At first glance I was a bit miffed at the use of plastic wrapping for the bar itself, however fear not it is 100% home compostable packaging. They’ve even thought about the ink they use which is made from vegetables with a water-based varnish.
The texture between all three differed. The dark chocolate was fabulously shiny with a snap like any regular bar. The peppermint was very bendy and melted almost instantly when touched. The orange and tangerine was a mix of the two, not snappy but not too bendy. The latter two would benefit from being stored in the fridge.
Flavour wise the aromas of both the peppermint and orange and tangerine when you open the packaging is lovely and makes you want to dive in. Both definitely scream Christmas flavours! Taste wise they are quite strong so you would not want a lot. To be honest neither were knockouts. The peppermint had the edge for me and was nicer when firmer. Both were relatively creamy in texture, which is what you want in a chocolate bar.
Although it is 85% the dark chocolate bar is not as dark and bitter as you might expect. In other aspects it does come closer to a standard bar of chocolate and is a nice cocoa flavour. As with the other two it was also creamy, which again is a nice surprise.
Using essential food oils is a delicate balance and it is good that they are giving the option of flavoured chocolate, rather than a plain bar. If you need a free-from bar then these are a good option, however for me they wouldn’t replace a regular choccie bar.
Nibbles ‘n’ Scribbles x
*These 3 Conscious Organic Raw Chocolate bars were gifted in exchange for a review. All opinions and views are honest and my own.