Product Review: A Duo of Vegan Candy Bars

Sjaak’s Organic Dark Chocolate with Caramel 1.6 oz Candy Bar

Finding vegan caramel options is difficult. Finding a good chocolate and caramel pairing is nearly impossible. Sjaak's is the best I have discovered so far, with creamy, flowing caramel inside of a chocolate that enhances the flavor.

I love the metallic crinkle of the silver and gold foil and the thick, rich chocolate that is more on the milk chocolate side than the dark side, but the ratio of caramel to chocolate was a bit off. The individual compartments had less of the thick, sweet caramel--a good balance between not too salty and not too sweet--than I’d have liked to find.

The chocolate was almost good enough in quality to make up for that, except you buy a caramel bar as much for the caramel as the chocolate containing it. This bar is more Rollo than Caramello, for those of you who have enjoyed non-vegan treats.

The company also offers a five pack selection of vegan chocolate bars with raspberry, caramel and espresso flavors included and individually wrapped bites with flavors from caramel or orange to mint or ginger.


Ingredients: organic dark chocolate (organic sugar, organic chocolate paste, organic cocoa butter, non-GMO soy lecithin, organic vanilla), organic rice syrup, organic sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic chocolate paste.

http://sjaaks.com/

Boom Choco Boom Dark Chocolate Bar 1.4 oz

The candy comes in an off-putting purple, red and tan striped soft foil. Each section of the bar includes a cute picture on top of fork tines and a reminder to enjoy life. Life later, candy now.

I found the chocolate too hard, too tough to bite into. What I did was more like breaking than biting. And this was after I already snapped off a bite-size section with my fingers.

The bar is at its best if you hold it in your mouth a while. It develops sort of a creamy sensation once you chew on it and get it to start melting and blending together. It reaches its best consistency when it’s mostly chewed. I had to not swallow in order to find that magic point where the texture and flavor coalesced. Which, I guess is good if you want to work on eating more slowly, with more awareness. This is a complaint, thinly disguised as a compliment.

The bars also come in rice milk and rice milk/crispy rice. The bars are vegan and gluten-free, dairy, nut and soy free. Kosher and casein-free. They leave a lot out, in other words.

Ingredients: Evaporated Cane Juice; Natural Chocolate Liquor (Non-Alcoholic); Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter (dark chocolate bar version)

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/