The Vegan Society Aotearoa held the second annual Vegan Chocolate Awards on April 24 at Khu Khu Eatery in Auckland.
With more than 100 different chocolate entries the illustrious judges had a tasty, yet difficult task ahead of them.
Chocolate makers from all over the world entered the Awards with the hope of becoming a winner in one of seven categories and this year there were two supreme winners, the competition was that tough.
Congratulations go to both Mind Your Temper with their ‘Speculoos’, and Lucid with their ‘Chuncho’.
Plant milk chocolates are becoming ever more popular and the range and quality is increasing every year. It’s not just bars either; the rise in bon bons, truffles, inclusions and flavoured chocolate suitable for vegans, those allergic to dairy and everyone else is being celebrated in these awards.
“It was an amazing event and no one could ever think they were all vegan chocolate, many competitors had the desirable features of classic chocolate – for example that meltability, the quality of the chocolate coating your tongue and leaving you wanting more,” says judge Jasbir “Jazz” Kaur.
“While others had structural integrity, silky liquefying characteristics and were very innovative.”
This year’s judges were executive chef Jasbir Jazz Kaur, chocolatier and founder of The Chocolate Bar Luke Owen-Smith, food and beverage judge Aaron Pucci, local entrepreneur, restauranteur and experienced awards host Chris Kinnell, international executive chef with an impressive pedigree of running restaurants in top hotels Volker Maracek, and special guest judge all the way from Samoa, founder of Ms Sunshine Organic Farms and operates a cacao agritourism experience, Floris Niu.
