Chocolate Award for Best Taste
A call out through social media led us to be selected amongst the best 11 vegan chocolate bars, chosen by a panel of tasters for The Independent. The call came from a freelance writer whose quest was to find the best tasting vegan chocolate bar, as we embarked upon Veganuary. Her mission was to present to health and ethics conscious consumers looking to give a vegan diet a go, that they could do so and not miss out on chocolate.
The message stated that she wanted to include small businesses as well as larger ones so we pitched to her about our chocolate, describing our careful methods of making Freedom Chocolate using traditional hands-on techniques. Showing consideration to people with dietary restrictions was also part of the criteria as was approach to problematic ingredients and the credentials of the likes of the source of cacao, all matters that Freedom Chocolate pay attention to but the key factor was looking at flavour and choosing the tastiest chocolates.
Miss out dairy but don’t miss out taste
When we began making chocolate it was through necessity to be able to provide all members of our family with a chocolate treat without worrying about allergies and food intolerances, but taste was very important to us too. Simon spent many hours trying different mixed of ingredients to reach a desirable texture and great taste. He had a family of five critics to try out his samples on, until we gave the unanimous thumbs up on the recipes. He now uses these to create our selection of 10 flavoured chocolate bars. He is constantly trying new flavours and introducing new seasonal chocolate treats, so you can give Freedom Chocolate as a gift as well as enjoy our chocolate bars all year round.
The testers who received our chocolate samples alongside another 100 chocolate makers had quite a task on their hands and said that they were impressed with the number of vegan chocolates on offer. They struggled to whittle it down to the final 11 selected to be featured in the newspaper article so we were over the moon to have been chosen as part of this elite group. We even got singled out alongside Nomo and Asda, for a special mention. Our special mention was the fact that we were an artisan producer, who know where our ingredients come from and they urged consumers to shop small – so one for the small food producers dedicated to doing things ethically and sustainably.
Freedom Chocolate taste among one of the best in the UK
The testers loved the beautiful smell of cacao that emanated from the bar of dark chocolate when it was opened, and they loved the crisp, clean taste. Our dark mint chocolate was also given 8 out of 10 by the testers but never made it into the top 11.
Being listed amongst bigger brands, we feel immensely proud of what we have achieved in such a short time. Interest has been phenomenal since the article appeared. We were even contacted by an international brand wanting to work with us on a project for when they launch of a range of accessories with environmental credentials – watch this space for more news on that!
We know we have a great product and people locally are starting to get on board with the brand but something like this really cemented for us what we already know – Freedom Chocolate tastes great! Receiving this recognition gives us that bit more credibility with new customers, and since about 85% of people who sample our chocolate then buy, we know our new customers will be equally delighted with the taste.