The Raw Chocolate Company

You may have noticed that the “treat section” opposite the till has recently expanded to include bags of goodies from The Raw Chocolate Company . These are vegan, plastic free and organic, of course.  We also stock their chocolate almonds and chocolate vanoffe cashews loose!

These are the items currently in stock

We thought you might be interested to find out more about this company. 

Story

It all began with the company founder experimenting with raw cacao in his kitchen. He eventually had creations he wanted to share with his friends and family. 

Ingredients

Raw Cacao - the cacao is sun dried and not heat treated, keeping it as close to it’s natural state as possible. 

They spend at least three times longer than other manufacturers grinding the ingredients, super smooth for a luxurious experience. 

All products are refined sugar free, they use coconut sugar instead. This has a slower energy release.

All the ingredients used in the products are certified organic.

Supporting Agro-forestry

Their cacao suppliers, Sierra Organics, are involved in a tree planting project to avoid serious deforestation in Peru and support the Agro-forestry in the area.

Their cacao is sourced in the surrounding areas of the Rio Abiseo National Park in San Martin Peru, and the National Gamekeepers Organisation, they also work with the Amazonia Viva project.

Find out more about agroforestry in these from their cacao supplier Sierra Organic here.

Packaging

The bags are home compostable.  Bring your own container for the loose chocolate cashews and almonds.

Factory

The products are made in a factory in Henfield, surrounded by hills and fields in the Sussex countryside. 

All staff are paid the living wage on principle, plus many other benefits, however they are not certified.

Certifications

• Soil Association Organic

• Vegan Approved 

• B Corp (Pending, they used to have it but new ownership means they had to reapply)

• Sierra Organic Partners

Fun history fact

Technically the chocolate / honey coated fruit and nuts we sell are called ‘dragee’.

The term 'dragee' has French origins and is used to describe a variety of sugar-coated nuts/sweets. The earliest form of dragees dates back to ancient Rome, where nuts and seeds were coated in honey and used in celebrations. Over time, sugar replaced honey as the coating of choice, and the art of dragee-making evolved with the introduction of chocolate in the 19th century.

Recipes

The Raw Chocolate Company has a number of recipes on their website for you to experiment with.

We have adapted the Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn Bar to use Get Loose ingredients. Check it out here.

Spudos - Packaging free crisps

We are very excited to be stocking packaging free crisps from Spudos!

Just bring your own bag, or container to fill up, then sprinkle on one of 6 flavours of “Spud dust”.

• Salt & Vinegar 

• Prawn Cocktail (back soon)

• David Bacon

• Chip Shop Curry

• Nooch & Onion

• Doner Kebab (NEW)

(all vegan and natural ingredients)

Where are they made?

Spudos are grown, and produced in Essex, on a sustainable farm that uses solar energy and runs the tractors on biodiesel from the waste rapeseed oil used for cooking the crisps.

UK grown rapeseed oil is used as much as possible. Sometimes this is not available, then it is sourced from Europe.

The farm is working towards organic certification. They use a digestate fertiliser made on site from maize and rye grown on the farm.  The potatoes are watered using the farms own reservoirs (as much as possible depending on rainfall), and if the potatoes need to be stored, they’re kept in solar powered cold stores.

What’s in the flavours?

Check out the full ingredients list of each flavour here.

The flavour shakers go back to Spudos when finished for cleaning and refilling.

How do they get from the farm to us?

They get from the farm to Spudos HQ (based at Containerville) in East London without single use plastic in the supply chain!! This is quite a rare system.

At the point of production the crisps are put into buckets, then delivered to Spudos HQ by the pallet.  Once they are empty, the buckets are then washed out and reused for the next delivery.  Even the pallets have reusable covers and straps, so no wasteful plastic wrapped pallets!by the pallet load.

Spudos transfer the crisps into smaller airtight containers for delivery to shops like us!

They come to us with other items from Planet Minimal (electric van) so we are saving on transport. 

We keep most of the crisps in the large air tight container to keep them fresh. Just a small amount are put in the customer dispenser. 

Once finished the large container goes back for cleaning and refilling.

How to buy them?

Option 1 - bring a tupperware container or air tight bag. Weigh your container. Tip in the required amount of crisps. Choose your flavour of Spud Dust and sprinkle. Shake gently. Although if you are cycling the shaking will be done for you!

Option 2 - use one of the compostable Spudos bags. Tip in the required amount of crisps. Choose your flavour of Spud Dust and sprinkle. Shake gently. When you get home, if there are any left, transfer to an airtight container.