The lovely people from Venture Foods sent me a box of goodies to try. if you have a look at their website and are in the UK you will probably recognise some of their products. They are a small independent company and all products are vegetarian society approved and many of them are vegan.
In the box were at least 5 different chocolate bars and 2 jars of curry paste – balti and Thai green curry. I’m always reading blogs where the authors have obviously had products sent to them to review (I can’t count the amount of blogs I’ve read recently with reviews of Pom on!) but this was the first time it has happened to me and I was totally excited. I’m not a big fan of sweet things in general but who doesn’t like free chocolate?
I have never ever been a fan of white chocolate, always finding it sickly and too sweet, so I opened the white chocolate bar at work where I knew it would find a home if I didn’t like it. It wasn’t sickly at all and I preferred it to dairy versions of white chocolate I remember, but I wouldn’t buy it. However, it was descended on by the white chocolate fans at work who loved it and said they would buy it even though they eat dairy.
My favourite chocolates that came were the two “mars bar shaped” bars – one was coconut and dark chocolate and the other was hazelnut, nougat and dark chocolate. I haven’t found many vegan versions of this type of yummy dense chocolate bar and they really hit the spot when I had sugar cravings. I devoured the coconut one in about 2 bites and adored it.
The chocolate couverture bar with rasins and almonds was a real treat and disappeared quickly shared with non vegan friends who didn’t even notice it was vegan. And I think I’ve still got one bar left at home to try – I’ll check what that is and report back.
I like to make my own curry pastes but there’s always times when you’re in a rush or you need to rely on another family member who doesn’t share your love of pounding spice. My husband used the balti paste with some potatoes, spinach and chickpeas and it had a lovely clean non greasy flavour. Every ingredient on the label is recognisable and there aren’t any strange sounding chemicals or dodgy E numbers either. He’ll use the Thai paste next time I’m working late – it’s difficult to find Thai pastes without shrimp so that’ll be very useful to have around.
There’s a full range of Eastern sauces as well as pickles, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, stir fry sauces, salsas and pasta sauces as well as all the chocolates. I will definitely be trying the worcestershire sauce when I finish the current bottle I am using as it is too vinegary and plain nasty.
I love the idea behind this company and I’m so glad the products are good and tasty too. I’ll definitely be supporting them in future!
Cooking the Vegan Books 
“However, it was descended on by the white chocolate fans at work who loved it and said they would buy it even though they eat dairy.”
That would be me then 😛 It was yummy though.
I’m loving the sound of the hazelnut, nougat and dark chocolate one. YUM!
ooh i love white chocolate, I wish vegan stuff was easier to come by in holland & barrett or somewhere!! lucky you getting samples!!
My fave is the coconut covered chocolate bar, they are yum!
Hey there
My local restaurant does its own brand of shrimp free Thai curry pastes, and a great Tom Yam one. Don’t know if you’re handy to Bristol, but it’s called Teohs, and there’s one in St Pauls and one in Southville.
x kate