Chocolate
Kinnerton launched as a nut-free chocolate manufacturer some years back. This remains their main line and they have quite a number of different easter eggs which are made in their dedicated nut free factory. However, they also produce a bar of chocolate which is nut free, dairy free, gluten free and egg free. It’s vegan and absolutely safe to eat.
This isn’t a gourmet chocolate. Back in my milk-eating days, I tasted better. This one has 55% cocoa solids, so it can’t compete with the 70 – 75% cocoa ones. However, when you can’t eat chocolate at all, I can assure you that this is quite good enough to eat straight off the bar. When cooking and making delicious desserts, this stuff is your friend. It’s wonderful to be able to make lovely chocolatey things which are completely safe.
When Easter comes around, Kinnerton make a dairy-free egg each year. Last year it was a “Tiggerriffic” egg, but things seem to change from year to year. I’ve found more of the eggs on sale in Sainsbury’s than anywhere else. The Kinnerton’s website carries details of all their products.
Where to get it: Relatively easy to find in that it’s in the supermarkets rather than being the preserve of the health food shops. I have found bars of Kinnerton’s chocolate in all of the major supermarkets, usually shelved with the special diet things. The price varies considerably. At the moment, Morrison’s are the cheapest at either £1 or 99p. The rest are much of a muchness ranging from Sainsbury’s at £1.19, throughTesco’s at £1.20 to Waitrose where it varies between £1.22 and about £1.28. I keep an eye on the prices and whenever special offers come up, I buy in bulk!
Choices
These have to be the most delicious commercial dairy-free chocolates I’ve come across. Choices make a caramel-filled chocolates which Sainsbury’s sell. I haven’t found them anywhere else in this country, though they may be available in stores in Ireland where they’re made by a company called Celtic Chocolates.
The chocolates aren’t cheap at £3.99 a packet, …but they are divine! Do you know, a whole packet can just evaporate into nothing if you don’t pay attention?? Amazing! They don’t have a soya backtaste and the company hasn’t gone for the knit your own sandals carob option which seems to be part of the compulsory flagellation mantra of many vegan “chocolate” bars. (Why? Doesn’t taste nice. If you go fair trade choc you contribute to small farmers’ income. )
They are truly the best thing out. Try them. Get someone to give you some. Drop HEAVY hints. If desperate, go out and buy yourself some. Call it market research!
Easter Eggs
Sainsbury’s own FreeFrom
Once again, Sainsbury’s have brought out their own brand easter eggs for their FreeFrom range. These eggs are large, prettily wrapped in spring-like daffodil yellow cellophane and have no box. They’re really a grown-up egg, rather than a kids’ one and are made from dark chocolate with a good flavour and definite “mouth appeal”! At £3.99 an egg, they’re not cheap, but they are big eggs and make a good gift. The only challenge is transporting them without squashing them. It’s perilously easy to end up with an “Eeyore’s birthday” situation! What they also don’t have is anything inside/alongside the egg. As such, they lose out to Kinnerton’s and to Choices. Having said that, the Kinnerton’s egg is £4.99, but it does have a bar of chocolate with it which usually retails for about £1 (depending on special offers).
The annual Kinnerton’s egg is out and about. It’s an adult look in style, with a bar of the usual Kinnerton’s dairy-free chocolate in the box too. At last a company that recognises that not all dairy-free people are under 5 years old! According to Kinnerton’s website, the eggs are available from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s and Asda. I’ve only found 2 eggs and both were in a huge Tesco. They’re not in either of the Morrison’s in my area. I haven’t made it to the big Sainsbury’s yet. I hope they have them, as I could do with 1 more! I found one for £4.99.
Choices
This company also made an Easter egg this year, which at £4.99 for a small egg seemed too expensive for me to justify the market research option, so I can’t tell you what they were like. I did stand in Sainsbury’s with one in my hand. It even made it to the trolley twice, but I put it back each time after due consideration of the price. It just didn’t seem right spending that much on an egg that was frankly small.
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