Kev's Snack Reviews

It's still #veganuary, so just enough time to do a review of these Vegan Organic Raw Chocolates from The Raw Chocolate Co! They kindly sent me several from their range to try recently, which I was super excited about because I do love their Vanoffee Bar. It's the best "white" vegan chocolate out there, although is more akin to Blonde Chocolate. As well as a new "Salted Vanoffee Hazelnut" and "Silky Coconut" bar, they're also doing Vanoffee Chocolate coated cashew nuts! Their products are available from: https://www.therawchocolatecompany.com/ So if you're dairy free or vegan do check 'em out - they're only a small company and deserve a lot more success in my opinion! The Vanoffee chocolate is described as a "Cocoa confection with Lucuma and Vanilla". It's sort of a cross between Caramac and White Chocolate, but of course vegan. The cashew nuts are thickly coated in it with a dusting of organic cocoa powder...

Today's review is for something a bit different, a new type of healthy ice cream featuring ingredient of the moment: avocado! Not just avocado, but that other superfood of the moment  - coconut! Yes they've only gone and mixed the two together to make a healthy, vegan, gluten free, nut free and soya free ice cream! It comes in two varieties: Original and Raw Cacao and is available from ocado.com and Waitrose. Fravocado kindly sent me some samples to review and below are my thoughts on each variety. I'll start with the Raw Cacao because this was the one that divided my opinion most. It's made with Coconut Milk, 15% Avocadoes, Agave Syrup, Coconut Oil, Cacao Powder, Lime Juice, Vanilla Extract, Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum and Salt. Opening the lid, it was super solid; practically a block of ice and even after waiting over half an hour it took a while to become scoopable. Eventually I decided to shave bits off with a spoon and eat it that way - hence the appearance in ...

Last week I reviewed the Orange and Mint bars from Pana Cacao, but wait...there's more! A big thankyou to the UK importers for sending me samples of the range recently - there's flavours such as Cherry, Strawberry & Pistachio as well as today's review: Fig & Wild Orange and Raw Cacao. Pana Cacao is an Australian company producing raw, organic and handmade chocolates using minimal ingredients and sustainable materials. They're suitable for vegans, dairy free, soy free and use coconut nectar and agarve syrup instead of white sugar. You can find them in the UK in various health food stores, as well as Pana's UK webstore: https://panachocolate.com/uk/shop/ The bars each comes in boxes containing 45g in paper wrappers. Each has an individual design, which I think is a nice touch and makes it feel more special (see above). Starting with the Fig & Wild Orange variety, this contains 14% figs as well as wild orange essential oil, plus spices like car...

I was recently sent a selection of chocolates from the UK importers of Pana Cacao, an Australian company that produces raw, vegan, organic and handmade chocolate bars without the use of dairy or sugar. Instead they use agave and coconut syrup, cacao butter and raw cacao. Today I'm reviewing the mint and orange bars, which are some of the simpler flavours in the range but very tasty ones indeed. The bars come in recyclable boxes printed with vegetables ink, and each contains a 45g bar with a paper inner wrapper. The chunks have messages printed on, such as "Love your insides" on the orange variety... And "Love the earth" on the mint one: I've tried a few Pana bars previously, and was a big fan so I was super excited to try these flavours... The Orange variety contains raw cacao, dark agave nectar, tangerine and orange oil and spices like cinnamon and carob. The first thing I noticed biting into it was just how fudgey and soft it was, it was more li...

Considering the heatwave we are experiencing lately I thought I'd review something appropriate for the weather - ice cream! Not just any ice cream but vegan, dairy free, gluten free and organic ice cream made by Booja Booja! I've reviewed their Caramel Pecan Praline Ice Cream before and really loved it, so how does this "Hunky Punky Chocolate" variety compare? I found this reduced to £2 at a local market stall which is an absolute steal (it usually costs around £6 at Waitrose) so naturally I stocked up. It's made with a blend of reverse osmosis water (how fancy!), agave syrup (a type of cactus), cashew nuts and cocoa powder. Pretty simple ingredients and no weird fillers or stabilizers - can't get more natural than that! I scooped some into a bowl. It had a nice chocolatey smell and I couldn't wait to get stuck in! It tastes very good indeed, super creamy and chocolatey, with a light sweet edge from the agave syrup. It's certainly on par with...

It's been ages now since Nakd brought out their Fruit & Nut Nibbles range, and one product from it that I haven't been able to find anywhere was the Mint Humbug variety. Until now! I managed to find a bag of these in a small health food store in Leeds recently. They're the same as all the other fruit and nut Nakd nibbles; raw, vegan, gluten free and cold pressed, containing a mixture of dates and cashew nuts and raisins, as well as natural mint flavouring. Unlike the Cocoa Mint bar these aren't chocolatey flavoured, and all the better for it really...they really are reminiscent of mint humbug sweets, but y'know...natural and healthy and without all the sugar! They're a great sweet and filling snack, very moreish but won't leave you hungry afterwards. Overall, these are some tasty nibbles from Nakd, it's just a shame they're not as easy to find as the other varieties. Highly recommended if you can find them. Nutrition Information (per 40...

A big thankyou to Coco Caravan for today's review. They kindly sent me some of their Raw Vegan Chocolate Caramel Eggs recently so I was super excited indeed - it's rare to get a vegan caramel! These are available from Coco Caravans website and consist of 8 raw dark chocolate eggs, containing a runny caramel made with coconut blossom sugar, coconut cream and oil and cashew nut paste. A caramel made without dairy - yay! I like the simple and non pretentious packaging - they're wrapped in simply brown paper which feels rather rustic, plus makes it easy to recycle. When trying to take a pic of the innards I accidentally squashed it - oops! As you can hopefully see above the caramel is super sticky and runny. The eggs are two halves stuck together rather than a whole shell completely filled with caramel. I took a bite, and it wasn't quite what I expected. The flavour is earthy and punchy, and definitely that of a raw chocolate. It was nice and flavoursome and...

I do love Ombar chocolates, if you can’t tell by now from my previous reviews of their bars! Not only are they dairy free and vegan they’re also made with “raw” cacao which is quite a rarity amongst chocolates. This gives them a sharper more authentic cocoa flavour, although it may not be to all tastes I personally rather enjoy it. I’ve been keen to try this Ombar Centres Raspberry for ages now, I've seen it in shops locally but kept umming and ahhing over whether to buy it. Luckily I was offered some of the range along with the new Karma Bites snacks to review recently so I couldn't say no to that! Weighing 35g this usually costs around £1.99. It’s a lot , but bear in mind this is high quality organic raw cacao made by a small company. It’s worth the price, and nicer than other raw chocolate bars on the market. The bar contains a centre of coconut cream and raspberry powder and is coated in 60% cocoa chocolate. I cut a piece off the bar so you can see the centre - lo...

When I'm trying to eat healthy (#thestruggleisreal!) I do like a nice refined sugar, gluten and dairy free snack to munch on. There's always the trusty, tasty Nakd bars on hand in most shops, but a lesser-known brand is The Primal Pantry, who make Paleo and Vegan approved bars with ingredients like nuts, dried fruit, coconut sugar etc. I've tried their stuff before and really enjoyed it. So when I spotted this caffeine infused Espresso variety in the Co Op recently I got very excited indeed - probably too excited, must have been the thought of that shake-inducing caffeine! Described as simply a "Double Espresso Protein Bar" it contains real coffee beans and seemed to be promising an energy boost in bar form - protein AND coffee all at once?! Can't get more #fitfam than that ey? Unfortunately, the bar turned out to be a bit pants. Overlooking the fact it looked like something you'd find in your pants, the texture was my first point of contention: it ...

My first post-Christmas review...hurrah! And in typical fashion it's for something healthy, which is just what the doctor ordered after all the rich food and sweets over the festive season. This new Blueberry Muffin flavour Nakd bar caught my eye in a local Sainsbury's Express only a few days after Christmas, and being a huge fan of their other varieties it went straight into my basket. How would it compare to previous editions like Lemon Drizzle and Carrot Cake ? The bar cost 85p and consists of a mixture of dates, cashews, raisins, almonds, blueberries and a hint of natural flavouring. Opening the wrapper it had a super strong blueberry aroma - wow it smelled like a blueberry muffin alright! Taking a bite, it tasted even more of blueberry muffin than I'd expected. I mean yeah I expected blueberry, but the cashews and almonds actually gave it a muffin-like taste and texture. This was a real treat indeed, and better than some of the previous limited editions, in my ...

Amongst the Nakd bars I was sent recently were the New Recipe Apple Danish and Banana Bread bars, as well as these Berry Bliss and Cocoa Twist varieties. They're made with a mixture of oats, raisins, cashews, dates and "fruit extract" which consists of apple and carob. All are vegan and gluten free, as well as refined sugar free. Thankfully they're not flavour free! The Berry Bliss variety is lovely; so fruity thanks to the raspberries and strawberries, it feels like a real summery treat indeed, in fact it'd be perfect for the Wimbledon season! But it would also be good for those times in Winter when you want to remember the Summer months too, haha! 8 out of 10 . The Cocoa Twist bar is a more simple affair, but very satisfying and has a nice rich cocoa flavour. It's the closest to a natural brownie bar you're going to get, and makes for a very filling snack. Highly recommended. 8 out of 10 . Overall, these are another two great snacks from Nakd,...

Recently, I was sent a batch of snacks to review including some of the new Nakd bars with a "New Recipe", so I thought I'd start with some of the more interesting flavours from the selection: Apple Danish and Banana Bread! The Apple Danish replaces the previous Apple Pie Nakd bar and I wasn't sure what the difference was so I looked it up...seems that this Apple Danish contains cashews rather than peanuts and almonds, and it also contains "fruit extract and concentrate" which consists of apple and carob. Nakd Apple Danish: This one tasted lovely with a subtle apple flavour and nice chewy texture. The natural spices are gentle and comforting and give it that authentic Apple Danish flavour. Although you could still pretend it's Apple Pie too! I really enjoyed this.  8 out of 10. Nakd Banana Bread: The Banana Bread one was perhaps even more exciting, replicating the classic banana cakey treat in bar form. It contains real bananas as well as walnuts...

When I heard a new limited edition Nakd bar was out, my ears perked up immediately; I had to have it! Especially since the flavour on offer is Lemon Drizzle - I used to looove lemon drizzle cakes back in my cake-eating days, so to have something similar was potentially very exciting indeed. According to Talking Retail, these replace last years limited edition Carrot Cake variety, which is a shame but to be expected I suppose. The bar cost 75p, and I was disappointed to see there were no multipacks - boo! The ingredients, like all Nakd bars are vegan, dairy free and gluten free, and contain a mixture of nuts, dried fruit, coconut and lemon flavour. The bar looked a tad different to a regular Nakd bar, there were a few chunky bits in there which I presume were the almonds. The taste was spot on for lemon drizzle - zingy, sweet, moist and chewy, without being too sour, but not skimping on the lemon either. I would say it was "just right". This is definitely a tasty...

Another #veganuary review today, and this time it's for a very special bar indeed. This is an "Academy of Chocolate Bronze 2016 Winner", made in micro batches with directly traded single estate cacao. It's called Solkiki Toasted White and is minimally processed with only three ingredients: organic cold-pressed cacao butter, organic cane sugar and organic coconut. Does the lack of extra ingredients make it boring? Definitely not! As well as being vegan and dairy free, like all of Solkiki's chocolates this bar is GMO free, and free from pesticides and herbicides. It's made in Solkiki's renewable factory, which offers only uncut, unprocessed chocolate. Pretty impressive! I love the presentation of the bar; it feels super special with it's mysterious black wrapper. There's a "Tasting Notes" board where you can mark which flavours you feel best describe the chocolate. Such a fun touch! There's also this cheeky Day Of The Dea...