Frequently Asked Questions - Ingredients
1. Do Chocolove bars contain Gluten?
We do not guarantee Chocolove to be gluten free. Some bars contain vanilla. The 100% natural vanilla flavor is dried on a powder believed to be derived from corn. As far as we know, no grain ingredients containing gluten are used in making our products, but again we cannot make a guarantee.
2. Are any Chocolove bars made without vanilla?
The following bars contain no vanilla:
- 70% Strong Dark Bar
- 77% Extra Strong Dark
- Organic 61%
- Organic 73%
- Chocolatour Sao Tome 70%
- Chocolatour Grenada 60%
3. Which Chocolove bars contain nuts?
Chocolove manufactures 3 different bars containing nuts: Toffee & Almonds in Milk Chocolate, Hazelnuts in Milk Chocolate, and Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate. Although these are the only flavors that intentionally contain nuts, all of our bars are manufactured in the same facility and, despite rigorous cleaning, the non-nut flavors may contain traces of nuts. In accordance with FDA regulations for allergens, all bars that do not contain nuts contain a warning that they were made in a facility that processes nuts. The only nuts we knowingly let into our facility are almonds and hazelnuts; we do not intentionally bring any peanuts into the facility.
4. What kinds of sweeteners or sugars do you use?
Our Organic bars are made with cane sugar. All other Chocolove bars are made with beet sugar. However the Toffee & Almonds and our Crystalized Ginger bars contain both types of sugar (cane & beet).
5. Are there GMOs in your ingredients?
No. Some of our bars contain soy lecithin made from soy beans that are guaranteed GMO-free (see response to next question)
6. Which Chocolove bars are free from soy?
Organic 61%, Organic 73% and Chocolatour Tanzania bars do not have soy as an ingredient. Due to other chocolate made in our factory, which may have up to 2% soy lecithin, any chocolate may contain trace amounts of soy.
7. Ingredient information
Lecithin: A number of Chocolove flavors do not contain lecithin. For those that do, lecithin is less than 2% of the formula by weight and is made from soybeans that are GMO-free. Lecithin is used in the formula to facilitate even distribution of cocoa butter throughout the chocolate.
Vanilla: The vanilla in Chocolove is a dry vanilla powder made from vanilla extract which has been sprayed onto maltodextrin, believed to be made from corn. Vanilla comprises less than 2% of the formula by weight. Flavors that do not have vanilla in their ingredients are Extra Strong Dark 77%, Strong Dark 70%, Organic Dark 73%, Organic Dark 61%, and Chocolatour Sao Tome 70%. Any chocolate made in our facility may have traces of vanilla.
Peanuts: Peanuts are not an ingredient used in any Chocolove flavor. We endeavor to inspect all incoming shipments of nuts to prevent possible peanut contamination. However, we do not guarantee that our bars are free from any peanuts or peanut residue.
Gluten: Chocolove is formulated without the intentional addition of wheat, barley or other gluten containing products. The vanilla in Chocolove is a dry vanilla powder made from vanilla extract which was sprayed onto maltodextrin, believed to be made from corn, although we cannot guarantee the origin of the maltodextrin. The vanilla extract is less than 2% of the formula by weight. We know of no other possible source of gluten in our chocolate bars; however, we cannot guarantee that Chocolove is gluten free. Flavors that do not have vanilla in their ingredients are Extra Strong Dark 77%, Strong Dark 70%, Organic Dark 73%, Organic Dark 61%, and Chocolatour Sao Tome 70%. Any chocolate made in our facility may have traces of vanilla.
Milk Allergies: Every effort is made in our facility to assure that no milk chocolate is mixed in the dark chocolate. We have installed separate melting tanks and pipes which prevent cross contamination when switching from milk chocolate to dark chocolate. We have separate bar moulds that are designated for milk chocolate. However, we do not guarantee that Chocolove dark chocolate is free of any milk residue. We do place a cautionary statement on all dark chocolate bars advising of the possibility of milk chocolate residue in dark chocolate. See the question regarding kosher for information on kosher parve.
Food Allergies in General: Chocolove makes every effort to assure that only the ingredients listed on the ingredient panel are contained within the chocolate. However, if you are allergic to any food product, we cannot provide a guarantee that trace amounts of that food product are not in Chocolove chocolate. For example, if you are allergic to strawberries, we cannot provide a guarantee that our chocolate is free of strawberries. This is because a possibility exists that our supplier may have inadvertently processed their raspberries on equipment that also processes strawberries, thereby resulting in trace amounts of strawberries in the raspberries, which might then consequently end up in a bar of Raspberries in Dark Chocolate.
Cocoa Liquor: The term "cocoa liquor" is used to describe finely ground cocoa beans. During grinding, the mill gets hot and the ground cocoa beans become very fine in particle size and the cocoa butter becomes liquid; in short the finely ground cocoa beans are liquid when they exit the mill. When cocoa liquor is cooled and becomes solid, it is the same as unsweetened baking chocolate. Cocoa liquor has no alcoholic content.
