I was recently sent a selection of chocolates from the UK importers of Pana Cacao, an Australian company that produces raw, vegan, organic and handmade chocolate bars without the use of dairy or sugar. Instead they use agave and coconut syrup, cacao butter and raw cacao. Today I'm reviewing the mint and orange bars, which are some of the simpler flavours in the range but very tasty ones indeed.
The bars come in recyclable boxes printed with vegetables ink, and each contains a 45g bar with a paper inner wrapper. The chunks have messages printed on, such as "Love your insides" on the orange variety...
And "Love the earth" on the mint one:
I've tried a few Pana bars previously, and was a big fan so I was super excited to try these flavours...
The Orange variety contains raw cacao, dark agave nectar, tangerine and orange oil and spices like cinnamon and carob. The first thing I noticed biting into it was just how fudgey and soft it was, it was more like eating fudge than chocolate and that's not a critisim - it's a lovely texture! Somehow the chocolate manages to be creamy and feel indulgent despite the lack of any dairy whatsoever. The orange flavour is spot on, it's zingy and tart and pairs well with the richer cocoa flavours, whilst the agave syrup brings the ideal level of sweetness. All in all, this was a delight to eat and I savoured every piece...it's just a shame the bar was small because I could have easily eaten more!
The Mint variety was perhaps my favorutie of these two, again it's super fudgey in texture and contains similar ingredients as well as peppermint oil. The peppermint gives it a soothing, comforting edge that leaves you feeling warm and cozy afterwards. This is definitely one I would buy again even though it's not cheap in price (to be fair though, it's organic and imported all the way from Australia so this is to be expected).
Overall, I have to say I'm a big fan of Pana Chocolates! If you're dairy free or vegan, these are a must try, and even if you're not I think you might just love them too. They're pretty unique chocolates; I've certainly never had anything like them before - I think it's that fudgey texture that gives them the edge. A definite win!
To buy these in the UK, do keep an eye out in your local health food store, plus they're also available online from this site as well as Amazon:
https://www.healthysupplies.co.uk/pana-chocolate.html
8.5 out of 10.