Non-UPF box of chocolates?

[RubaiyatOfAnyone]

Having tead the Ultra Processed People book i’ve been thoroughly put off UPFs, both for their unnecessary content that is only there to make the producers a larger profit margin, and for the environmental damage they often inflict in mass production. I haven’t made a conscious decision to stop buying them, but find the thought now disgusts me so i’m back to cooking from scratch for most things.

BUT…i love a box of chocolates. And with my birthday and christmas coming up, i’d love to have some to celebrate.

does anyone know of any producers who use just cocoa, sugar, milk, or similar basic ingredients? Or does everything bow have palm oil and the rest in? I really do mean a proper selection box of chocolates, not a bar of inedible 90% peruvian dark chocolate.

the book says that UPFs should not be a major part of the diet, but he expressly says that there is nothing wrong with having UPF items as treats every so often. If you want to tuck into a box of milk tray once a year that's arguably a much healthier attitude to food than putting so many food items into the 'never eat again' category.

Unless you're planning to munch on raw cocoa beans then any version of chocolate is going to be an ultra processed food.

Booja booja are UPF free or nearly I would imagine

Eg https://boojabooja.com/pages/the-winter-collection
sold in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose

Just buy the chocolate you like and enjoy! Eating UPF all the time is of course bad for you so I'm not saying do that but this chocolate is a treat for you. A one-off. Life is too short to worry about stuff like this and I say that as someone who is slim, teetotal, runs regularly and eats a very healthy vegan diet!

My favourite chocolate is HIP chocolate. I eat it every Sunday and am very health conscious the rest of the week

I've not found any commercially and need to avoid emulsifiers beyond just general UPF avoidance so following for suggestions. We sometimes make chocolates at home with moulds, melted dark chocolate (I love lindt 70% which is emulsifier free) and chocolate/cream ganache flavoured with essences or alcohol. But generally just for special occasions.

Thank you all - and i do know the author specifically doesn’t care about people avoiding all upf, and i promise i’m not sitting around obsessing about ingredients list in my spare time.

but i would still love to know if anyone has come across some chocolates made of the things chocolates were made of before upf became a thing. Thank you so much @VernonScrips those Booja ones look like a great place to start my, um, research. For scientific purposes, you understand 😁

I buy the most amazing chocolates from Shokoladi Malvern- they are made from real ingredients you could place and the chocolate is made by her from beans so no weird processing there either.

Scientifically I might start with salted caramel then maybe honeycomb caramel. Then in the interests of science their ice cream is also free of UPFs.

Waitrose 1 chocolate doesn’t seem to contain emulsifiers. I don’t think Willie’s pearls do either, salted caramel with a relatively low amount of sugar for what they are (thinks is around 35g).

Willies Cacao chocolates are (wanky word) ‘Artisan’ with no emulsifiers

https://www.williescacao.com/how-is-chocolate-made/

They have loads of different bars and do hampers too. Ocado sell the bars so you could have a small taste first.

Chocolate is always going to be a processed food but some have a lot more additives, eg. there's a difference between chocolate with these ingredients:

Cocoa Mass, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Vanilla

I'd call that processed but not UPF (Nova 3). Whereas a different dark chocolate with these ingredients I'd consider UPF (Nova 4):

Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Palm Oil, Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithins, E476), Skimmed Milk Powder.

Just to add to this.
I was looking for UPF chocs too.
and buy Booja (yumm!)

then I joined ZOE, and it scores them as UPF and low quality fat. (Coconut)
Whaaaat!? 😩

Bah!
I still eat them though 😆

Sainsburys has a 90% Ugandan 🇺🇬 UFP chocolate £1.65. Which is really nice with some nuts ans coffee.

how about montezuma? love theirs... take a look ... wide range...

I think any chocolate you like is going to be OK if you are seriously avoiding UPF because it means chocolate is going to be a rare treat.

I love chocolate, wine, pastries etc, but they're only for holidays or 'special' circumstances. Most of the time, I'm avoiding them, so bring on a Crunchie or some Green and Blacks at Christmas - it's all a treat.

If I wasn't trying to lose weight, I'd have a few squares of dark chocolate and kid myself it's all good.

Harry Specters is about as good as you’re going to get
https://www.harryschocs.co.uk/

I love Russell & Atwell chocolates. They're fresh as made with double cream so you have to keep them in the fridge. They use honey as a sweetener too.

Chocolat Bonnat but factor a Eurostar ticket into the cost

I was going to suggest Montezuma too. There is a Reddit thread with a few other ideas.

Google go find out if you have any local chocolatiers. I have a friend who makes handmade chocolates and only uses real ingredients, nothing artificial, however she only sells locally as not using anything artificial including any preservatives means her chocolates only have a short use-by date and don’t really travel well.

Check out Danieli. Based in Richmond , London/Surrey. They have a website. Expensive but heavenly!

Booja Booja. Classy vegan chocs 😎

Cocoaloco fits the bill OP:

https://www.cocoaloco.com/

Here's a list, hope it helps! https://simplyfreshfoodie.com/non-upf-chocolate/