Review: OCHO Organic Coconut Bar

This vegan chocolate coconut candy bar is exactly what you would expect: simple, chocolate-covered coconut. 

The chocolate is very thick but doesn't taste too bitter because of the coconut. They complement each other well. It's a chewy and satisfying vegan candy bar. 

 

I couldn't tell this was vegan and wondered if Mounds bars are vegan. I looked it up and they are not vegan because they use milk in the chocolate (even though it's dark chocolate). 

OCHO Candy is an organic candy company. All of their products are organic and gluten free, but not all are vegan. 

OCHO Organic Coconut Bar ingredients: Organic dark chocolate (organic cacao beans, organic evaporated cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin), organic tapioca syrup, organic coconut, organic sugar (organic cane sugar, organic tapioca starch), water, sea salt, organic soy lecithin, organic vanilla extract. 

Review: OCHO Organic Coconut Bar

First impressions: Reminds me of Mounds.

Taste: The dark chocolate is balanced by the coconut so it doesn't taste as bitter. 

Texture: Thick chocolate coating, chewy coconut inside. 

Can you tell it's vegan? No

Worth buying again? Yes, and I would try their other products too. 

Overall: 5/5

Review: free2b Rice Chocolate Sun Cups

Most vegan candy uses dark chocolate, which is naturally vegan. But as someone who loves milk chocolate, I appreciate when companies make a vegan milk chocolate. This is especially true as I search for vegan peanut butter cups. To me, milk chocolate and peanut butter go better together than dark chocolate. 

These vegan sunflower seed butter cups from free2b use rice chocolate, which seems closer to a semisweet than milk chocolate, but it still not as intense or bitter as dark chocolate. It wasn't quite as satisfying to me either though. 

The free2b brand is free from 12 common allergens, so that's probably why they used rice instead of nuts. They also use 67% Fair Trade ingredients. All of their products are vegan, gluten free, and allergen friendly. It's nice to be able to recognize a brand and know that anything you pick will be vegan. 

As far as comparing the sunflower seed butter to peanut butter, these tasted a little more bland to me. Although I didn't notice as much of a difference with the Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter Cups. Interestingly, they have the same ingredients other than the rice chocolate instead of dark chocolate. 

One thing I did like a lot about these is the name. "Sun cups" sounds better and is much easier to say than, "sunflower seed butter cups." 

free2b Rice Chocolate Sun Cups ingredients: rice chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, rice syrup powder), sunflower seeds, powdered sugar (evaporated cane juice, tapioca starch), cocoa butter, sea salt. 

Review: free2b Rice Chocolate Sun Cups

First impressions: Not amazing but not bad.

Taste: Not as bitter as dark chocolate, but doesn't taste quite like milk chocolate either.  The sunflower seed butter is a little bland compared to Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter Cups. 

Texture: A little softer than I expected. 

Can you tell it's vegan? Maybe
Better than other vegan options? I like the Trader Joe's version better. 

Worth buying again? I probably won't buy these again, but would try their other products. 

Overall: 4/5

Review: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter Cups

Usually what makes chocolate not vegan is the milk in milk chocolate, and most dark chocolate is vegan. These sunflower seed butter cups are also allergen friendly on another level by replacing the peanut butter with sunflower seed butter.

I hadn't tried sunflower seed butter at all before and wasn't sure what to expect. But it tastes a lot like peanut butter. Overall these were very similar to Reese's peanut butter cups. The sunflower seed butter was a little creamier than a peanut butter cup, but that could also be because it's less processed. I would definitely eat these again.

I'm not the biggest fan of dark chocolate, but the sunflower seed butter helped balance it out so it didn't taste as bitter.

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter Cups ingredients: Dark chocolate (cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter), sunflower seeds, powdered sugar (cane sugar, tapioca starch), cocoa butter, sea salt.

Review: Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter Cups  
Taste: Tastes like a peanut butter cup. The sunflower balances the dark chocolate so it's not as bitter as dark chocolate by itself. 
Texture: A little creamier than Reese's peanut butter cups and the chocolate is a little bit thicker. Otherwise very similar.
Can you tell it's vegan? No
Better than other vegan versions? I haven't tried any other vegan peanut butter cups but this will be hard to beat. 
Worth buying again? Yes
Overall: 5/5