to feel very very very miffed with all the choc companies that they cannot make anything nice with dark chocolat apart from, ermmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......................

[psychomum5]

plain old dark chocolate.

I mean....

how hard surely could it be to make say.....

whispa's out of dairy free dark chocolate

or curly wurlys (well, I know it is harder as caramel is made from milk too, but still)

or flakes

or minstrals

or revels

I am just feeling very left out by all the 'yaying' about the return of whispas, and the fact that if I feel like some chocolate and go to buy some I have a grand choice of two, yes two different bars, and they are not even different, just different makes.

oh, and one make is nestle, so how bloody mean is that........

you lot all get a choice of 100+ different types of yummy choc, and I get stuck with G&B, which altho lovely, is boring day after day after day.

I want choice goddamnit, and I want a whispa.

.....and yon....

aww you two, thankyou.

you know, I have been so busy sulking about my lack of choice, I never even thought to search online for choc.

still does not make up for the lack of whispas choice when stop for petrol, but I could still get somehting different to have ready.

Dh picked up some dark chocolate flakes the other day...

Lindt Mint Dark Chocolate is my fave - you get it in sainsburys and even the kids like it.

Lindt do loads of dark chocolate.

Waitrose sell dairy free chocolate buttons too.

Ooh I know I know!!

Melt some dark chocolate, then freeze it back together, and you'll get that weirdy bubble half off taste of wispas anyway

No reply btw

Do you like marzipan? Those Lyme Regis marzipan bars (def sold in Waitrose, not sure where else) are farking lovely. They were my regular treat when I was dairy free.

Sainsbury's free from section has quite a few different bits. they do buttons (for a more reasonable price than hotel chocolat), and a "bubbly" bar (I think - might have got that online though). Also a bar with crispy bits, and even a chocolate spread - all quite tasty.

Can second that the Lyme Regis marzipzn bars are good, and RitterSport do a marzipan, and I think a couple of others which are dairy free.

Check out the two online places I mentioned before (Goodness Direct and Dietary Needs Direct) - I've found most things there for dh and my girls

ooh, have just looked at Tooticky's links - I never thought to search for vegan choc - thanks!

aeao.......you need to come and show me what you mean by freezing the choc to make the bubbles.........head not on straight enough to work it out

daisydoo........where were the dark flakes from??

CSWS........will now have to go to waitrose!!

falcon Thanks! yummy.....

Flakes were from Asda!

vegan store
The coconut bars are like dark choc Bounty, the hazelnut nougat bars are a bit like a cross between a Mars Bar and a Milky Way. I have also seen them in an independent healthfood shop, about 80p each?

ooh....you can actually buy them in real shops???

will have to go hunting

If you know anyone planning a trip to Australia get them to look out for some stuff for you - they seemed to do quite a few dark choc variations when we were out there a few years back, including dark choch Maltesers...

just to add (slightly) to your woes, have been sent this by a friend:

Thank you for your recent email to Green & Black?s. I was sorry to read of your concern having noted the changes to the dairy allergen and vegan labelling of our dark chocolate bars. I will do my best to explain these changes in a clear and comprehensive manner.

Green & Black?s announced changes to the dairy allergy statements on the wrappers of our dark chocolate bars in May. There has been no change to the recipe of these bars, the change is simply in the way in which the risks of dairy cross contamination are being communicated on bar wrappers. I will outline the background behind this decision below:

As you are aware, there are no milk ingredients in the recipe of our Dark chocolate bars and this continues to be the case. However, the bars are produced on the same production line as Milk chocolate bars within our range. The bars have previously, therefore, carried the following statement to reflect this: ?Manufactured in a factory that handles dairy ingredients.?

A recent audit revealed that traces of milk residues can still be found on manufacturing equipment despite intensive cleaning. Therefore, in order to ensure that consumers are at minimum risk, our allergen statements will be changed and we will clearly state on pack that milk residues may be present in dark chocolate bars across the range. This will be indicated by the inclusion of ?Organic Whole Milk Powder? within the ingredients list itself and a ?Contains Milk Ingredient? statement on pack. The Vegan labelling was also consequently removed from pack. The new packaging has already been printed and is filtering through to supermarkets over the next few months. To re-iterate, this labelling change will affect all dark chocolate products within our range.

Therefore, there is actually no change to the risk to allergy-sufferers as the recipes and ingredients that go into the making of the bars has not changed. What we are now clearly stating on pack is that we cannot guarantee the absence of milk. It is almost certainly going to be present ? albeit at a low level. This packaging change ensures that consumers, especially milk allergy sufferers, are aware of the possibility and this represents a positive step in consumer communication.

We are eager to inform consumers of this change to prevent any possible concern that may arise. Therefore, this information is displayed clearly on our website at www.greenandblacks.com and we have been working with organisations such as Allergy UK, the Anaphylaxis Campaign and the Vegan Society to ensure that this may be clearly communicated to allergy sufferers and vegans alike.

hope that doesn't affect you as it is only trace!

didn't know they had changed the recipe psycho now the dc won't get their treat either buggerbugerbugger
But more recently i have been getting the Tesco version, they have no milk in either (prays that they haven't changed the recipe too)

gw talking about after eights
relying on telepathy of course

no, they haven't changed the recipe, but they have obviously found traces of milk in the dark choc so can't claim it is dairy free any more.

whats this then - so they haven't changed it?

(easily)

i know it's a bit of a long read but basically a student of mine noticed that G&B had started to include milk on the ingredients list of their dark choc, so she wrote to them for clarification and this is their reply.

Important bits:
"As you are aware, there are no milk ingredients in the recipe of our Dark chocolate bars and this continues to be the case."

"A recent audit revealed that traces of milk residues can still be found on manufacturing equipment despite intensive cleaning."

"Therefore, there is actually no change to the risk to allergy-sufferers as the recipes and ingredients that go into the making of the bars has not changed. What we are now clearly stating on pack is that we cannot guarantee the absence of milk. It is almost certainly going to be present ? albeit at a low level."

HTH!

course, I didn't realise, not having my telepathy switched on, that you were not actually referring to my illuminating post but to some previous one by Psycho that I hadn't even read about After Eights...

Flake does a dark version.

Hotel Chocolat is wonderful (join their dark club) and loooove their buttons (not dark though).

Have you thought about making your own chocolates? I used to work for Ann Summers and made my own prizes, it's a lot easier and cheaper than it sounds! I wrote a book (I don't still have it before you ask) that got passed around UO/PO's and even made money selling my chocolates at parties (could make them for well under £1 and sold them for £5 )

We always made chocolate truffles for Christmas as children. I was never so keen on the finished version (too much rum had usually been added by then!) but the melted chocolate (I think our receipe had butter and eggs though) was absolutely fabulous. I expect that there are excellent dairy free versions.

We live in the States at the moment, and there are lots of dark chocolate versions of things (Dark Chocolate Snickers and Mars Bars for example). But virtually every chocolate bar has peanuts in them. I pity the peanut allergy sufferers (and dd who just isn't keen) as there is very little choice remaining.