Chocolate-y hazelnutty goodness (written June 3, 2019)
Because of the recent obsession with our chocolate hazelnut spread, we’ve decided to dedicate last week’s (very late), Foodie Friday to the glorious-ness that it is - sorry its late! If you’re very lucky, you’ve come in on the days where we’ve had a taster hanging around! If you’ve also been lucky enough to recently try the Little Bee Bakery Chocolate and Hazelnut Vegan and Gluten Free cake, that rich chocolate spread they use is ours (If you haven’t tried the cake yet, it’s AMAZING)!
So why is our chocolate spread so great?
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It’s just 67.5% Hazelnuts, and 32.5% Lemon & Jinja Vegan Chocolate Buttons!!......Yes you’ve heard us correctly – it’s VEGAN! [For you non-Vegans, don’t let that put you off – the buttons just give it a richer taste.]
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Hazelnuts taste awesome, especially when roasted
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Vitamin E – hazelnuts have the second highest content (behind almonds) of vit E, which, as many of you might know, is great for anti-aging.
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Rich in Q-10 – a coenzyme and antioxidant present in hazelnuts, which is great for cell health
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Lower cholesterol level – hazelnuts have a high percentage of mono-saturated fats (aka. good fats) which burn cholesterol
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Vitamin B6 – hazelnuts have a fairly high amount of B6, which helps towards mental and bodily functions
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No palm oil! - sustainable or unsustainable, palm oil is added as a cheap filler and preservative. It can also quicken the production process as it helps smooth the mixture quicker. We know we wouldn't eat it with added oil, so why should we sell that to you?
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No other added oils, such as coconut - the same as before, we wouldn't want added oil in the spreads we eat!
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No added sugar, colourings or additives - the spread is so tasty that it doesn't last long enough to need a preservative! ....Yes, we do realise that the Lemon & Jinja Vegan Chocolate Buttons still have sugar in them.... we’re not denying it! We’re just saying that our spread is healthier for you than your average shop alternatives that add in other ingredients as fillers and preservatives.
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Buy what you need - you can buy as little or as much as you want! Just make sure you pre-order first.
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It's refillable - bring in your own container to refill - no need to buy new jars each time.
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Deposit scheme - buy the jar once from us, then you can come back in the next time and swap it straight out for the next one. No need to wait for refills, no need to buy another jar! [alternatively bring in your own jar]
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Personalise your ingredients - you have any specific requirements? Sugar added? Milk chocolate buttons? Smooth or Crunchy? More or less nuts? Let us know in advance and we will see what we can do for you.
Just to compare it to a well known brand, we have picked on Nutella® (sorry Nutella®)
Some of you may or may not have seen this picture of the breakdown of Nutella®’s ingredients :....
We had a few comments following our Instagram post about the ingredients, so we've done our research and went onto Nutella®'s UK and Ireland website. There's good news and bad news...
The good news
The palm oil Nutella® use is 100% certified RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil - its fully sustainable and doesn't even mix or come into contact with unsustainable palm oil)
The bad news
The vast majority of this spread is just sugar (which is probably why it is so addictive!).
In fact, 15g (around 1 tbsp) Nutella® = 8.4g sugar
(according to the nutritional information on the Nutella® UK and Ireland website )
--> OVER HALF THE SERVING IS SUGAR
However, Nutella® do not tell you the actual percentage of sugar or palm oil. You can't find it on the website, or on the jar!
Yes, we found the percentage for each ingredient, but not sugar and palm oil. In the picture above, it shows the breakdown of the ingredients, with sugar as 55%. To help justify this huge figure, we calculated the sugar percentage from the weight provided from the Nutella® nutritional information (8.4g sugar in 15g Nutella®), resulting in a similar percentage - 56% sugar content!
Last but not least...
We also make almond butter and peanut butter! 100% nuts (except for a pinch of salt). AND we have more to come! Fancy cashew butter? Pistachio butter? Or anything else? Just give us a shout and we can do it (prices might change obviously)!
AND for those with kids (...we know its the adults) who are addicted to Nutella®, we can make a milk chocolate spread (to order only - not vegan) to help smooth the transfer away from conventional chocolate spreads. Its been tried, tested, and successful (speak to Little Bee Bakery about this!)
Ciao for now,