Veganism is taking the mainstream by storm. It doesn’t get any more mainstream than Oprah… when Oprah speaks the world listens. And listen they did earlier this week when Chef Tal Ronnen paid a return visit to the Oprah show to plug his new book, The Conscious Cook as well as some great new vegan products by Gardein.

Tal Ronnen is the chef behind Oprah’s 21-Day Cleanse where she went vegan for nearly a month. Kudo’s to them both, that was probably the first time many American’s had ever heard the word vegan before. While she didn’t end up sticking to a vegan diet she has remained quite a good ally to have on our side as she does do her part to get the good word out there. Her segment with Chef Ronnen that aired this week was nothing short of being a very positive advertisement for veganism. Props to Oprah for that.

First a bit about Tal’s book, then we’ll get to the tasty bits.

The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat
By Tal Ronnen

A former steak lover himself, Chef Tal struggled for years on a vegan diet that left him hungry and filled with cravings for butter and meat. By applying traditional French culinary techniques to meatless cuisine, he found that he could gratify his cravings for rich flavor and fat. The Conscious Cook shows readers that avoiding the health risks and ethical dilemmas of eating meat and dairy does not mean sacrificing taste and appetite. This is not a cookbook of sprouts and tofu burgers, but of mouth-watering, hearty meals that keep the protein at the center of your plate. Featuring 75 original recipes that will satisfy the fussiest foodies and the most dedicated of carnivores, The Conscious Cook is a breakthrough in meatless cuisine that will revolutionize the way readers experience food.

Click here to order The Conscious Cook…

You’re going to want this book. What I like about his approach to vegan cooking is that he’s going for taste and flavor- he’s not afraid of fat and isn’t going to try and convince you that you’re going to hell for using a bit of olive oil or Earth Balance butter. The food he’s making is by default pretty healthy, but it’s not a health food book, it’s a book of delicious vegan food that anyone would love to it.

The first thing Chef Ronnen prepared on the Oprah show was a Celery Root Soup with Granny Smith Apples which looked really tasty and easy to make. The next thing he made was Gardein “Chicken” Scaloppini. They didn’t show him cook it on the show but it looked so good I was drooling (stick around til the end, I’ve got you covered).

This makes for a perfect segue to talk about Gardein. Some of you are already familiar with this product, a newcomer on the vegan food scene which has taken over our taste buds by storm. Many restaurants are starting to offer vegan meals thanks to the faux beef & chicken products by Gardein, and now they’ve expanding to making their stuff available in markets so that regular folks like you and me can serve it up at home.

Well if this Oprah episode seemed like an ad for veganism it was also a huge ad for Gardein. Not only did Chef Ronnen use Gardein’s faux-chicken as the main ingredient in his recipe, but he & Oprah spent a lot of time talking about Gardein, explaining vegan protein and basically just talking up what a great product it is. I can only imagine that sales and stock for Gardein must have skyrocketed overnight as soon as that show aired. This is seriously awesome.

Awesome because Gardein is totally delicious, totally vegan, and totally coming to restaurants and markets near you. I don’t mean only the hippie markets either, here in L.A., Ralph’s supermarkets have started carrying the brand new frozen line of Gardein and most of the stores seem to have them in stock already. This is major news people! Vegan meals and snacks in your nearby frozen food isle!

I was recently given the opportunity to try out this new line of vegan goodies and I am most thoroughly impressed. Have a gander at what’s in store for you…

No doubt these vegan Buffalo Wings are going to be everyone’s favorite, mine included. Geez, these are so good… you pop em in the oven and within 10 minutes you’ve got scrumptiously spicy wings that are just as good if not better than their real birdy counterparts. I wasn’t sure if they would be spicy enough because often packaged and frozen foods just don’t live up to the flavors you’d expect, but these were HOT! Serve them up with a vegan ranch or dipping sauce of choice to help cool things off and you’re good to go. You’re going to want to stock your freezer up with these as it’s going to become a staple food that you never want to be without.

This ball of love is known as the Marinara Chick’n Good Stuff. I absolutely hate the name but I absolutely love the dish. It’s basically a big piece of stuffed “chick’n” filled with tangy tomato sauce and perfectly melted Daiya cheese. The outer breading is seasoned with tasty herbs and bakes up to a nice crisp while the chick’n inside stays moist and the cheese gets nice & gooey. I can’t think of a more prefect marriage of vegan foods than Gardein & Daiya. I am so glad they invited me in for a ménage à trois.

Now my next favorite, these are the Crispy Tenders, aka, chicken fingers, made with seven grains and no chickens or fingers. Just like before, all you need to do is heat them up, get yourself a yummy sauce to go with and you’re all set.

I served my tenders with a delicious apricot-chipotle sauce which was an excellent match. These tenders are moist and juicy on the inside, golden-crispy on the outside. So good!

Above are the very versatile Beefless Tips, tasty marinated beef-like chunks that you can heat up and eat as is, or use in a sauté, stir-fry, stew, what have you. I did a quick sauté myself with a bit of olive oil, fresh ginger & garlic, lemon juice and red chili, served over a bed of red cabbage, chard and portobello mushrooms, topped with sesame seeds.

And finally we come to the Chick’n Scallopini, lightly seasoned not-a-chicken cutlets that are great as is or you creative cooks out there can do just about anything with them. I went real simple with these as I wanted to see what they tasted like on their own, so I just baked them up as per directions and served with a little lemon juice (I like lemon on everything you might have noticed) and a kale salad. Just like all the other Gardein products, this was delicious and very realistic. I can promise you that you’ve never had a fake meat product anywhere that comes nearly as close to the taste and texture of the real thing as Gardein. In fact, those of you who don’t like meat analogs won’t like this… it’s almost too real. Bummer for you.

Ok so I told you sticking around till the end would be worth it. You’ve seen what I did in the kitchen with this stuff, now you get to see what a pro like Chef Tal Ronnen can accomplish with Gardein in his much more capable hands. This is the dish he presented on Oprah which they didn’t show him make on the show:

Oh man, that video makes me so hungry! Chef Ronnen will you marry me? You don’t know how excited it gets me when you cut fancy shapes out of udon noodles & fry them and then make your sauce with spoonful after spoonful of vegan butter!

Hopefully some of you out there are as excited as I am that you can now get the makings of such meals just about anywhere. If your local stores don’t have Gardein’s products yet don’t despair. Visit Gardein’s “Where to Buy” page to find out exactly where to get it near you, and they’ve even provided a handy dandy form you can print out to take into stores and request they start carrying it.

Also don’t forget to pick up a copy of Chef Tal Ronnen’s book The Conscious Cook, it’s filled with many more tantalizing recipes like the one above. Eat up and enjoy!

Missionary Chocolates is a boutique vegan truffle company from Portland, Oregon run by two sisters. Their unique truffles are all vegan, lactose free and gluten free and are just as rich & delicious as their cream based counterparts. Their secret is an organic coconut milk which they tell us “is the perfect base to produce velvety ganache that one waits for when biting into a truffle”. Mmmmmm, I’m drooling already!

The lovely ladies behind Missionary Chocolates hooked me up with a generous sampling of their amazing truffles, enough to share at a gathering with a few of my fellow bloggers and vegan friends. While I had the intention of taking lots of pictures and notes on everyone’s reactions, it just didn’t work out that way. You can only stop a group of candy-loving vegans from pouncing on a box of opened chocolates for so long! I did manage to get a few nice shots though, so feast your eyes on some of this:

This is just one of the boxes we devoured, showing some of the assortment we had. The ones with the dusty coating on them are the Dark Chocolate Delight: “Our classic European-style truffle. Infused with a hint of organic Singing Dog Vanilla to perfect this truly delightful confection. Decorated with a dusting of raw organic cacao powder from the amazing Holy Kakow Chocolate guys.”

The one on the bottom right is the Smooth Espresso Square: “Equal Exchange French Roast coffee is simmered into our rich organic coconut milk to obtain it’s creamy coffee flavor. Your daily ration of caffeine, in a very portable package! Decorated with ground cacao nibs.”

It doesn’t get much better than caffeine and chocolate. If I remember correctly, Miss Alix, both a caffeine and coffee connoisseur highly enjoyed these espresso treats.

The cute round molded chocolates at the top of the box are the brand new Caramel Truffles, not yet available but coming soon. Oh man, these were so good… they reminded me of Rolo’s. Chocolate with caramel will always be at the top of my list.

Above is the Meyer Lemon Explosion: “2008 NW Chocolate Festival Winner! We blend Meyer Lemon puree with organic lemon oil to create an intense multi-dimensional taste experience.”

This one is the Coconut Silk: “Whole coconut puree blends with rich coconut milk to give this truffle its delicate flavor, perfectly balancing the smooth dark chocolate shell. Decorated with shredded organic coconut.”

I love coconut and I love chocolate, what could be better than this?

This is the Spicy Cinnamon Chipotle: “We blend Cinnamon and Chipotle Peppers to create this unique flavor combination sure to please any spice aficionado.”

Wow, this one packs a punch! I’d had my first chocolate & chili experience when I got to try the awesome Ancho chili chocolate from Xan Confections, so I wasn’t caught completely off guard but it’s still a taste combo that’s always surprising. I absolutely loved it and think that whoever came up with putting cinnamon together with chipotle (along with chocolate of course) is just brilliant. Taste-tester Agent Triple XXX wasn’t as fond of the unexpected pairing of hot with sweet and practically spit it out, so this might be one to consider as an acquired taste. If you’ve got an adventurous palate and would like to heat things up a bit, give this one a try.

Each and every one of these were so rich and decadent, you could really taste the quality ingredients and care that goes into making them. In the sisters own words:

“We want to enthrall you with our wonderful dairy-free, gluten-free confections. All of our truffles are made by hand in Portland, and are created using the freshest local and organic products available to us. We use only Oregon-grown berries, and take pride in using organic coffee, locally-grown peppermint oil and superior quality Fair-Trade Guittard chocolate.”

Missionary Chocolates are available throughout Portland and will soon be coming to California stores as well. Visit their website for locations or to build your own customized box and have it sent directly to you. Go ahead and indulge, you deserve it.

www.missionarychocolates.com
(503) 961-3262
info@missionarychocolates.com

On a very auspicious evening not long ago, a select group of agents gathered under cover of darkness to taste test one of the newest weapons in the vegan arsenal of delicious things- Go Max Go! Candy Bars.

These are no ordinary candy bars you see, they are 100% vegan chocolate bars that imitate some of your favorite “normal” chocolate bars from before you went vegan (Snickers, Milky Way, Almond Joy & 3 Musketeers). “All Go Max Go candy bars are covered in our signature-recipe rice-milk chocolaty coating. Light and lovely, it makes dairy-milk chocolate positively passé.” These promised to be every bit as delicious as the real thing, and we were determined to find out if this was true.

My team of specialists was asked to rate each sample with anywhere from 1 to 5 stars, 5 being best. They were also asked to indicate how close the sample came to the original and write down any notes or comments about what they thought. Identities have been (thinly) veiled for matters of national security.

First we sampled the Jokerz bar. This is the Go Max Go! version of a Snickers.

When your idea of the perfect candy bar is all about peanutty goodness, then we’ve got you covered. If layers of dry roasted peanuts, buttery-tasting caramel, and rich peanut nougat, sweetly wrapped in a delicious chocolaty coating sounds like a little slice of heaven, then smile, the Jokerz bar is for you!

Agent Orange: 4 stars. Awesome – my favorite. More nuts.

Agent Cupcake: Dense & a little bit like marzipan. Caramel is good.

Agent Faker: 3.5 stars. Lots of caramel, doesn’t taste like Snickers, tastes like Power Bar. Needs more nuts but overall good.

Agent Aum: 4 stars. Chocolate layer should be thicker. Can’t taste nougat but caramel flavor is excellent.

Agent of Chaos: Good, very caramelly, sticky, more nuts- but good.

Agent Triple xXx: 4 stars. More roasted nuts- would buy.

Agent MFC: 4 stars. Very caramelly, I love that. Needs more nuts.

The verdict seems to be that this was well enjoyed by all of us and we appreciated the delicious caramel while we longed for more nuts. Well listen close because I’ve got agents on the inside as well as I do on the outside. My sources tell me that:

“The next run of Jokerz should have a better ratio of peanuts to nougat to caramel… this was our first production run and the peanuts weren’t distributed as evenly as they could’ve been. But, it’s been tweaked so it’s all good.” All is good indeed… can’t wait for the next batch!

Next up we continued with our 2nd specimen, the Buccaneer. This is the Go Max Go! version of a 3 Musketeers.

How does a rich, fluffy, chocolaty nougat covered in a creamy chocolaty coating sound right about now? If you can’t answer because desire is consuming you… aye matey, ’tis a Buccaneer bar for you!

Agent Orange: 3 stars. Poor visual but Yum Yum Yum!

Agent Cupcake: I really like this, more dense than traditional nougat… caramel + nougat. The rice milk really stands out in chocolate.

Agent Faker: 4 stars. Taste is good, very rich. Bar is small & flat.

Agent Aum: 2.5 stars. Not tall or fluffy enough. Taste good, but like caramel instead of nougat. Chocolate not prominent.

Agent of Chaos: Tastes like Musketeer flavor but different texture. Ok.

Agent Triple xXx: 2 stars. Fudgy.

Agent MFC: 3 stars. By this point Agent MFC had already begun to slip in & out of a chocolate coma and could only respond with star ratings.

Seems like a mixed bag of ratings for this one. Some of us really dug the nougaty goodness while others got hung up on the texture or appearance.

Let’s move on to the Mahalo. This is the Go Max Go! version of an Almond Joy.

If you crave a gently sweetened coconut candy bar topped with three whole dry roasted almonds and covered in a luscious chocolaty coating… hang loose, the Mahalo bar is for you!

Agent Orange: 5 stars. REALLY good.

Agent Cupcake: Not trying this one :(

Agent Faker: 5 stars. Very good, love the coconut.

Agent Aum: 4.5 stars. Really great coconut flavors & the almond gave a good contrast. My only wish would be a darker chocolate.

Agent of Chaos: PURE AWESOME. No complaints- Amazing.

Agent Triple xXx: 4.5 stars. Maholler! Delicious.

Agent MFC: 5 stars. (at this point our agent’s choco coma had progressed to choco trance)

As you can see, nearly 5 stars across the board- there’s always one in the bunch who doesn’t like coconut, isn’t there? That’s too bad, because those coco-nut bars were FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC. Just like the Almond Joy’s I remember of yore.

Last but not least we had a go at the Twilight bar. This is the Go Max Go version! of a Milky Way.

Now imagine that rich, fluffy, chocolaty nougat topped with a layer of thick, buttery-tasting caramel all wrapped up in our very own creamy, rice-milk chocolaty coating. If this gives you sweet dreams of good taste, then the Twilight bar is for you!

Agent Orange: 4 stars. Very good.

Agent Cupcake: Same aftertaste as Jokerz.

Agent Faker: 3.5 stars. Tastes a lot like Buccaneer, very buttery and caramelly.

Agent Aum: 3 stars. Thickness was good. I like the caramel but the nougat needs to be fluffier. Chocolate layer should be thicker.

Agent of Chaos: Hella good, could be more gooey. Ok.

Agent Triple xXx: 3.5 stars. Would buy.

Agent MFC: 4 stars. (at this point our agent was toast)

Average to high ratings. Around now our team was near it’s limit… the fresh baked white chocolate chip, peanut butter cookies provided by Agent Faker didn’t help matters. One can only consume so much chocolate and sugar in one sitting.

Further investigations are pending.

Now you’ve heard what the panel of experts thought, it’s time you check some of these treats out for yourselves. One of the hardest things for me to give up when I went vegan was my beloved candy bars… and while no one as of yet has provided me with a vegan simulation of my all time favorite, a Twix, I am totally stoked that some of these other favorite flavors can now be re-enjoyed by vegans who miss them, and in turn, make it easier for people to go vegan.

The Go Max Go! website provides you with a handy dandy location finder so you can track down these beauties somewhere near you, or you can mailorder them from a number of the online vegan specialty shops such as Food Fight! or Vegan Essentials. The good news for us L.A. vegans is that soon all the Southern California Whole Foods will begin carrying these as well, starting in August. Many in other parts of the country already carry them or will soon.

Such a great time to be vegan! How can anyone say doing this is hard? The only hard part about it is being able to restrain yourself from non-stop eating of yummy things like vegan candy bars all day.

www.gomaxgofoods.com

In these abysmal and uncertain times of economic calamity, who doesn’t like to save a buck or two on their grocery shopping? That’s why I was really excited to find that Whole Foods is now making a knock-off version of one of the best vegan frozen entrees that is available, Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza. Amy’s pizza is known and loved by many as a truly delicious frozen pizza that’s 100% vegan and available in many super markets, including Whole Foods. Whole Foods has also started carrying their own version of the same thing under their home label, 365 Everyday Value. I assumed this would be the same as Amy’s pizza just boxed as the Whole Foods brand, much like they do at Trader Joe’s.

The great thing about this Whole Foods version is that it’s nearly half the price… Amy’s goes for $8.99 while the Whole Foods pizza is only $4.99. Too bad the low price is the only great thing about it. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

First lets talk a bit about Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza (No Cheese). This is one delicious pizza as far as things that come out of box and into your oven are concerned. I loved this long before I went vegan and I still do today. Amy’s pizza is the one item in the freezer aisle I always have a tough time resisting.

As described, it involves: “No cheese. Topped with marinated organic shiitake mushrooms, roasted red peppers, sweet onions and marinated artichoke hearts. Non-dairy/no cholesterol.”

The sauce is onion based, not tomato. The weird thing is that I am an avid & avowed onion hater, though it’s mostly in their raw form that I despise them. Cooked into food I don’t mind them, and in certain preparations I actually like them. Sweet onion pizza sauce is one of those ways. One of my all time favorite foods on the entire planet is the green onion based Indian pizza at Zante’s in San Francisco. Should I ever have to choose my last meal, Zante’s vegan pizza with everything would be it. Amy’s pizza tastes nothing like Zante’s of course (nothing can ever come close), but it does share that unique sweet onion sauce approach to pizza. If something can make me actually enjoy an onion, you know it’s got to be good.

The crust on Amy’s pizza is excellent for something out of a freezer. It gets nicely crisp on the outside and stays just the right amount of soft & chewy on the inside. There’s always a generous amount of the special sauce and an equally generous and well distributed placement of toppings. The toppings are chopped into small bite sized pieces and both look and taste perfectly fresh and delicious. Amy’s uses 85% organic ingredients in this pizza, is all natural and is 100% vegan. All in all, good stuff that you don’t have to be vegan to appreciate.

Now for the Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Roasted Vegetable No Cheese Pizza, aka, the knock off.

As they describe it: “Pizza without cheese may sound crazy, but it sure is delicious. We start with a perfectly formed crust, sweet onion sauce and layer roasted artichokes, Shiitake mushrooms, bell peppers and tomatoes to create a cheeseless paradise. So pop one in the oven, toss together a fresh salad and forget about the dairy… you’ll never miss it!”

Yum, sure sounds good, right? Even with that whole whole wacky no cheese thing! Wrong. If there was ever proof of “you get what you pay for”, this would be it- a total failure at imitating Amy’s pizza:

It looks downright nasty. Granted these are not the best photos nor did I take them in the best lighting. But seriously, you don’t need better light to see how bad this looks… bright light would have just made it look worse, this thing is better off left in the dark. There’s hardly any sauce, and what there is of it is just sort of lumped about in little puddles. The toppings are sparse and with one whole section of the pizza not even hardly getting any. It’s one of the saddest pizzas I’ve ever seen. My picture sure doesn’t look anything like the one on the box now does it?

Totally unappetizing. It didn’t even smell good while it was heating in the oven… one of the best things about a good pizza being how awesome it smells while it’s cooking. The crust was hard all the way through even though I heated it according to the instructions. It’s appearance was kind of sickly pale and the texture on the top felt moist and spongy. What little sauce that was there was thin and runny, adding to the already wet sensation this thing had going for it. Of the barely there toppings, they were cut into awkward, too big chunks, the size of which only emphasized how much they tasted like cheap, soggy freezer food. The mushrooms were gross, I picked those off after my first bite, but ultimately I didn’t make it much farther into this disgusting pizza- I couldn’t even finish one whole slice.

Hands down, this wannabe is an abomination and should be taken off the market immediately. Whole Foods, you totally dropped the ball on this one, big time. Take it away and come back when you get it right.

Not only is this thing unpalatable, it’s not even vegan. The crust of the Whole Foods pizza contains honey, while my beloved Amy’s pizza uses agave as a sweetener. Now let’s not get into the whole debate about honey, it’s not vegan, deal with it. Beyond that though, there is something far weirder going on here. One of the listed ingredients on the Whole Foods pizza is “2% or less of sponge extract”. Say what now? Yes, you heard me right the first time, sponge extract. I don’t know what the hell sponge is doing in there as a food ingredient, and frankly my dears, I don’t give a damn. It’s not like I will ever in my life be eating this horrid thing ever again.

If I sound pissed off you’re darn tootin’ right I am! There’s nothing quite as rotten feeling as realizing you’ve been taken for a ride while believing you were getting a good deal, especially if you’re really hungry and have nothing else at home to eat other than this turd pretending to be something it’s not. I feel like I’ve been swindled by the used car salesman of frozen pizzas. Saving $4 isn’t at all a value when what you get for the bargain is something so bad that you can’t even bring yourself to eat it. Seriously Whole Foods, what the fuck? This nonsense is giving cheeseless pizza a bad name. I want my $4.99 back so that I can apply it towards wiping away this foul memory with a delicious Amy’s pizza. It might be double the price but there’s no question which one is the tastier and better value. Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations!

Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza, No Cheese
Doesn’t have it’s own page, scroll about half way down.

Whole Foods Roasted Vegetable No Cheese Pizza
Just read the comments on that page, I’m not the only hater.

It’s no secret that bloggers love to get free stuff, myself included. For some reason my blog and I have not made it on to the list of “cool people who like to eat yummy stuff and write about it” radar of most vegan specialty companies. It’s always the other cool kids getting awesome stuff in the mail to sample like vegan ice cream, marshmallows, cheese, what have you. I hardly ever get offered anything exciting and it’s a cryin’ shame.

Much to my delight, my run of no free schwag luck changed thanks to Twitter. One of the local foodies I follow on Twitter, Val of food blahg (@myabsentmind) mentioned she was working as a PR rep for a gourmet chocolate company called Xan Confections that just came out with a vegan line of specialty chocolates. Totally as a joke I responded to her with “samples please!”. Imagine my surprise and elation when she responded in the affirmative and asked for an address to send some chocolates to. Amazing… I didn’t even have to beg! (Now before you all start hitting Val up for free candy, realize she’s not Willy Wonka… I don’t think they’re able to give out freebies left & right to the entire vegan universe, I just happened to get lucky asking for the right thing at the right time. You’ll just have to trust me that these chocolates are as profoundly amazing as I say they are, then go support this great company by buying some!)

Right off the bat, let me tell you that these were truly some of the most incredibly delicious chocolates to have ever passed my lips. If I end up sounding a little bit like a commercial from here on out, that’s perfectly alright with me because the world needs to know about these amazing delicacies and I’m more than pleased to be the one to break the news to you gently. While they totally fronted me some free chocolates, no one is paying me for this review and I am raving about these of my own accord (but if Xan Confections for some reason wanted to put my address on their “lifetime of free chocolates for being awesome” award program, I’m totally down).

About the company:

Xan Confections tempt the tastebuds and satisfy the soul. Famed Orange County, Calif. chocolatier Tracey Downey creates indulgent artisan chocolates, caramels, and other handcrafted treats using distinctive flavors and only the finest, all-natural ingredients. Xan Confections’ health-conscious chocolates and caramels are non-dairy, gluten-free, low-glycemic, low-calorie and vegan — but are still as rich and satisfying as ever.

Xan Confections uses all-natural ingredients, fine cacao, and no fillers. Forty-nine different gourmet pieces are currently available. Not all are vegan, but they have two signature health-conscious collections that are, and those are what they sent me to try. Let’s have at it, shall we?

Wholly Cacao Caramels– Rich caramel sweetened with 100% blue agave nectar and encased in fine dark chocolate. Wholly Cacao Caramels are non-dairy vegan, gluten-free, egg-free and low sodium; each piece is 61 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 8 grams of carbs.

The flavors I got were: Espresso Almond, Coconut Pecan, Chocolate, Butterscotch, Ancho Chili. They also make Bananas Foster and Raspberry.

Wow, caramel is one of my favorite of all things on earth! Whenever finding myself face to face with a box of assorted chocolates, it’s always the caramels that I’d go for first. I did not read the package describing these chocolates before I tried them, so not only was I not expecting the joy of a sudden caramel lovebomb in my mouth, I was also in no way prepared for both the intensity and deliciousness of these flavors. Each one was so rich and I could really taste all the different subtleties… they were all really outstanding, and each one built upon the one before it. I can’t say that I’ve ever had gourmet chocolate before… now I totally get it.

The climax of this adventure however was the Ancho Chili flavored one. Until know I was a virgin to the combo of chocolate with chili… and boy howdy let me tell you it was worth saving myself for! I’ve never experienced anything like it before, the pairing of sweet & silky caramel and chocolate accented with spicy, almost cinnamony chili was truly mind blowing. The heat sneaks up on you, at first I didn’t even notice it and then it started to creep across my entire palate, after about 30 seconds of having eaten it my entire head was buzzing with an icy cool heat. When people talk about chocolate being better than sex, THIS is what they’re talking about.

Not only are these chocolates so very tasty but they’re also quite beautiful. I felt like a queen eating rare and precious jewels. Ok, I’ll compose myself and move on to the next collection before this turns into chocolate porn.

Saintly Sins– Pure fruit is blended with 100% organic blue agave nectar and other secret ingredients, and encased in dark chocolate. Saintly Sins are non-dairy vegan, low-glycemic and gluten-free; each piece is 29 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 5 grams of carbs. Flavors include: Raspberry, Strawberry, Pineapple.

Sorry, I lied… it’s about to get hot & heavy in here. These fruit filled chocolates are nothing short of orgasmic. Like the caramels above, I had not read the label describing what these were all about, and again, I was not at all prepared for what pleasures awaited me. I should have known that something so beautifully handcrafted was going to be extraordinary. These were almost too pretty to eat. But just almost.

The first one I tried was the raspberry, and I was treated to a delightfully unexpected eruption of pure fruit filling that came spilling out all over the place… it was thick and gooey and toothachingly sweet (in the best of ways), and you could see the bits of real raspberry; this is no fake, artificially flavored nonsense, it’s the real deal. The two other flavors were just as wonderful, both tasting exactly like the real fruits they were made from… but better… and covered in chocolate.

I cannot say enough about how amazing this vegan line of chocolate from Xan really is. I love chocolate just as much as any other chocolate lover, but I’ve never been one of those obsessed chocoholics. These however have made a true believe out of me. I’m telling you, if these were mass marketed, See’s Candies wouldn’t stand a chance.

The comfort of delicious chocolate whenever and wherever I feel like it is one of the fews things that as a vegan I miss big time. I won’t pretend that my breakup with caramel Twix has been easy. (You people think giving up cheese is hard? Try giving up ALL of your beloved candy bars!) I always loved milk chocolate and was not a big fan of dark chocolate, though I’ve come to appreciate it more as it’s the only chocolate readily available for vegans. These Xan chocolates are made with pure cacao and no milk, but they don’t have that bitterness to them that’s a turn off for me with dark chocolate. These tasted as good, no, much better, than any regular milk chocolate I’ve ever had. Seriously… these chocolates rocked my socks off. The fact that they are vegan, sugar-free, low carb and low calorie is just icing on the proverbial cake. They don’t taste like healthy, hippie chocolate, they taste like some of the finest, gourmet chocolates money can buy, while not being at all expensive.

Xan Confections are a local Irvine based company. I don’t think they have a storefront but all of their chocolates are available to be ordered online at www.XanConfections.com. They ship worldwide, with next-day delivery throughout Southern California. They are also available in Whole Foods Markets throughout Southern California, and other locations in Las Vegas, Arizona and Hawaii. In Orange County, Xan is available at Whole Foods Market at The District at Tustin Legacy. I was told that they might be labeled by the chocolatier’s name- Tracey Downey. If you don’t see them right away in the case, ask the person behind the counter. If they don’t carry them, demand for them to start!

Have I managed to convince you yet that these chocolates are out of this world? If not than I think it must be because you have no eyes, no tongue and no soul. Anyone out there who enjoys chocolate on a higher level, and especially vegans who think that full fledged bootie rocking, gasp inducing chocogasms are a thing of the past- I urge you to get yourselves either to a participating Whole Foods or the Xan Confections website as soon as possible. When you take your first bite of one of these beauties and notice you’ve got that special flush that’s usually only reserved for lovers or exquisite food bliss moments in dimly lit rooms, think of me… think of me fondly.