Biona Salted Caramel Coconut Bliss
When I'm on a health kick I do enjoy eating a lot of coconut butter. It's a healthy paleo fat that tastes sweet and is very filling to boot. I usually eat it right from the spoon, but sometimes I'll mix it with cocoa powder and make chocolatey snacks from it too.
I've never known of any flavoured varieties so I was super dooper excited when I spotted this Salted Caramel Coconut Bliss made by Biona, in my local vegan store recently. It costs £4.93 which is a standard price for coconut butter, and is described as "our Salted Caramel Coconut Bliss is made from high quality coconut flesh blended with coconut milk, coconut nectar and pink Himalayan salt".
A natural salted caramel coconut product, sounds like heaven!
Since it's now Winter it was of course rock solid in the jar, and some of the fat had separated from the coconut nectar leaving unpleasant looking lumpy bits. I took a spoonful whilst on the bus as I couldn't wait to try it and....it didn't taste good. I was so disappointed. I could only describe the flavour as somewhat meaty, sickly and unpleasant. I suspected the problem was the separation of the coconut nectar from the fat, so when I got home I melted it down in a pan into more of a liquid, fudgey paste.
And it tasted a lot better! In fact it tasted lovely, like a caramel coconut fudge of sorts, and was super easy to eat from the spoon. Yum! I will admit, I ate a bit too much, although compared to real fudge with tons of sugar and dairy, this was a lot more filling and satisfying. I was able to actually put it down and stop eating, haha!
Overall, I'm glad I put aside my initial reaction to this and saved the day by melting it down - in liquid form it's lovely and makes for a nice natural fudge substitute. I can see a lot of potential for using this to make various vegan and dairy free sweets, if you add nuts, dried fruit or seeds to it. Definitely worth a try if you're vegan, paleo or into healthier eating!
8 out of 10.
Hey. I love following your blog,, but just thought I'd comment re your comments re coconut oil. I'm a medic and get a bit frustrated at the coconut oil craze. The evidence seems to suggest its not healthy, certainly not any more healthier than avoiding it altogether. Its extremely high in saturated fat (the artery clogging type), which whilst better than say other high saturated fat alternatives, is not healthy in itself.
ReplyDeleteJust thought it might help with some info from somebody who isn't involved in marketing and sales but more interested in you being and feeling healthy :-)
Hi Glenn,
DeleteI don't know what to think... I've heard about the American health association saying it's not healthy, and I agree that if you consume a lot of it with a high carb or sugar diet it would indeed clog arteries.
But in the context of a ketogenic, high fat low carb diet, many people seem to do well with it because the medium chain triglycerides are burnt off faster than standard saturated fats. There's many accounts out there of people losing weight and improving their lipid profiles on a high fat low carb diet. Ironic right? But it's happening, so much so that some doctors now recommend it to diabetic patients.
So yeah on a regular diet I agree it probably is unhealthy...Even on a vegan diet with lots of fruit it's probably unhealthy. But I've done a low carb diet myself and had no problems with coconut oil when I did...no problems with cholesterol either, as confirmed by tests. So I think it's just all about context. Even butter can be healthy on a low carb diet and helps you absorb fat soluble vitamins.
Hi Kev. Thanks for the speedy message. I'm glad youv'e done your research here and its good to see somebody so actively involved in their health. Indeed the messages are mixed out there but I would caution against the use of one off stories and uncommon accounts. Its the 'well my Grandfather smoked every day and was fine' type of thought marketers want us to utilise. Larger scale studies with control and better power (ability to detect things) generally show it as a less preferable ingredient and countries who utilise it in large amounts (and aren't known for high sugar content) tend to have poorer cardiovascular health outcomes. There will be multiple reasons for this of course and things are very person specific, but generally we can say its not a preferable ingredient (as tasty as it is). With the cholesterol, it raises both HDL and LDL cholesterol and the overall impact is likely mediated by other dietary components. A general rule, as you point out well, is diets in moderation and that don't reply on easy fixes and 'superfoods' for example are the ones with the most robust evidence for improving health outcomes.
DeleteAs a side note by the way - you've been amusing me somewhat of late.... I don't think there isn't anything you don't rate as 8.5 lol :-). I've started blogging too actually so like to keep an eye out what you taste (and I'm a bit greedy really).
Oh believe me if I don't like something it won't get an 8.5 lol! Good luck with blogging I'd love to see what you blog about :)
DeleteI wouldn't say the stories of people improving cholesterol and losing weight are one offs, though, I've been in groups of low carbers and paleo people and they aren't just isolated reports but many people saying their health improved on a higher fat diet which included coconut oil.
It'd be interesting to see studies of such people consuming coconut in the context of a lowcarb ketogenic style diet. As you probably know most high fat studies are done with refined omega 6 vegetable oils like canola.
Oh when I say 'one offs' I perhaps used a bad phrase. More anecdotal. There are a number of them, but when stacked against opposing evidence or more reliable and robust evidence they don't stand up so well. A good sorce for dietary info is the WHO website, NHS choices and if you have access to journals, then BMJ or PubMed Central. Its what we tend to use as they are more often peer reviewed and weightier by their designs. But what do I know... just a medic :-).
DeleteThe blogging is same as you actually :-). I love chocolate far too much. I'm not doing it seriously so don't really have any followers etc, but it lets me indulge me pleasures and wastes some time now and again. The blog is too naff and badly named to be a serious thing, but feel free to have a mooch :-)
https://chocolatefixology.wordpress.com/
If you have any feedback on it btw, I;m all ears :-)
DeleteCheers Glen, good blog I'll enjoy having a good read of it! I see you reviewed that new Avocado chocolate bar, I'm tempted to pick one up now after reading it! I nearly did the other day but thought it might taste too weird lol.
DeleteThanks for the sources about dietary info..I'll look into it, but to be honest it's such a minefield I'm not sure I ant to open any cans of worms haha!
Thank you.
DeleteOh the avo bar is amazing. I was really surprised by how lovely it was. Really unexpected. Actually might buy another myself now lol. If you use the link on the blog you can get that £5 off too which always helps.
Actually I'm going to go order lol. Too tasty.