(BPT) - Savvy consumers today are demanding more from products they love to eat — including ever-craveable chocolate — beyond delicious taste. They want to be excited by new flavors and trends, easily see every ingredient and get great-tasting products that fit within their health and nutrition goals, all while feeling confident their food is ethically sourced and sustainably grown.
If you’re a discerning shopper of everything chocolate, you’re in luck. By carefully reading product labels and doing some research, you can find tasty chocolate with high-quality ingredients — and you can even learn where and how those ingredients were grown and made.
Check the label
Checking the packaging of a tempting chocolate bar can reveal more than just the ingredients and nutrition facts, like looking for the Non-GMO Project Verified seal. To earn the seal is a long, detailed process — in addition to verifying products are free of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), companies must also provide a fully traceable supply chain.
In the case of chocolate, for example, Chocolove makes over 50 products that are Non-GMO Project Verified. This verification process, together with the company's Rainforest Alliance certification, means it can trace its ingredients back to the farms that supply them — a significant food ethics and safety feature.
Explore chocolates without added sugar
For anyone following a lower-sugar diet, and for those wanting to enjoy high-quality, delicious chocolate with fewer calories and less sugar per serving, Chocolove XO is a great choice. Sweetened with isomalt from beets and inulin from chicory root, this chocolate is made without the artificial sweeteners and chemical aftertaste found in other no-sugar-added chocolate. Each large chocolate bar offers three servings, all with 150 calories or less per serving, and 2 grams of sugar or less per serving.
Discover exciting new flavor combinations
There’s something for every palate in the Chocolove XO no-sugar-added line of chocolates. Popular flavors include:
- Salted Caramel in 60% dark chocolate, with a creamy, no-sugar-added salted caramel filling.
- Almonds & Sea Salt in 60% dark chocolate with dry roasted, crunchy almonds and sea salt crystals.
- Fruits & Nuts in 37% milk chocolate for a perfect blend of fruits and nuts, sweet and savory, chewy and crunchy.
Find your new favorites at Chocolove.com/XO.
Feel good about where your chocolate comes from
Before you make any purchase, it helps to do research on the culture and the philosophy of a company. Thanks to the internet, it's not hard to do. More companies today are publicizing their mission statements and providing consumers with information about the history and origin of their products.
The good news? You can indulge in your chocolate and be happy about where the ingredients are from and how they’re made at the same time. Here's what to look for:
- Brands that pay competitive wages to cocoa farmers and work with organizations to monitor and protect human rights on cocoa farms
- Brands that ensure sustainable farming practices
- Brands that commit to clean, traceable ingredients from farm to table
For more than 25 years, Chocolove has delivered ethically sourced, responsibly made chocolate made from traceable cocoa. The company sources nearly 90% of its cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, which means it meets all the above criteria.
"My mission for the company is all about happiness — for farmers, for our employees and for consumers of our products," said Timothy Moley, Chocolove CEO. "Good flavor at a reasonable price also results in secure income for cocoa farmers."
With a little research and awareness, you can enjoy your favorite chocolate treats and feel good about what you're eating.
