Food in fashion: iQ raw chocolate

Over the past few months all we’ve been hearing about is the new types of raw and vegan treats that are exploding onto the market. Celebrities such as Demi Moore and Donna Karan have been doing the raw thing for years, and supermodel Karlie Kloss has her own range of dairy and gluten free cookies, so we got in touch with the friendly folk over at iQ to see what all the noise was about.

Essentially, guilty pleasures do not have to be bad for your health. Scottish-based iQ Chocolate creators Kate Hamilton and Jane Shandley are producing their delicious raw chocolate bars directly from the bean, containing no gluten, dairy, nuts, lecithin, soya, additives or artificial flavourings. Sounds to good to be true, but they sent us over some samples, and we here at The Upcoming have to admit… it’s tastier than real chocolate!

We sampled the Original Bean-to-Bar, the Plush Peppermint and the Orange with Wild Raspberry, the latter of which was a strong contender for the top spot. The only ingredients are organic cocoa beans, organic cocoa butter and organic coconut blossom sugar all processed at very low temperatures… and that’s it. It’s dark, it’s rich and it’s completely scrumptious thanks to its 72% Peruvian cocoa.

Aside from the 197 calories per bar, a happy perk, these bars are proven to induce healthier skin, hair, bones, teeth, heart, muscle function and can even improve your mood, boosting energy release and immune function. At £2.99 a bar, how can we deny ourselves all this goodness?

For more please visit the iQ Chocolate website, where you can find all the information about their work, their research and how to get the goodies delivered. Their bars can also be bought from Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Whole Foods, Real Foods and Planet Organic. 

Elizabeth Finney