Product Reviews

Dolphin Chocolates
www.dolphinnatural.com
Review by Erin Pavlina

One day I was in my local health food store, Follow Your Heart, and I noticed a tub full of foil wrapped chocolates. Steve saw my immediate look of hope and said, "No way those are vegan." I said, "We have to check. They look wonderful." They were so enticing in the colored foils.

I picked through them like a kid in a candy store. Each flavor had its own color: Chocolate Mint was in blue, Peanut Butter was in orange, Roasted Almond was in gold, and so on. After reading the ingredients I discovered that most of the flavors were in fact vegan. I decided that for research purposes I'd better buy one of each flavor. Anything for the cause, right?

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The first one I tried when I got home was the peanut butter flavor. I'm a sucker for peanut butter and chocolate. After biting into the solid chunk of chocolate I was immediately hit with the taste of natural peanut butter, but it wasn't very sweet. It was like the sugar was missing. At first I was very disappointed; I wouldn't call the chocolate decadent or sinful. But something happened as I rolled the chocolate around my mouth. The natural flavor of the chocolate and peanut butter came out very strongly, and I found myself taking another bite, then another, and another, until I was done. Although I was expecting a burst of sweetness each time, it never came. Instead, I ended up very satisfied with no junky sugary residue in my mouth or on my teeth. And I realized that what I had just eaten was natural chocolate. Untainted by the strong taste of sugar. And it was good. I had a similar experience with all the other flavors.

I found myself really impressed with the company, that they could make a chocolate that gave you more the experience of eating real chocolate then of being sickeningly sweet. I developed a relationship with the owner of Dolphin Chocolates, Hank McKeown, when I was running the gift basket business. We spent a good deal of time just talking about his chocolates and the world of vegan chocolate in general. I found him to be extremely knowledgeable about his industry and he took great pride and care in creating his chocolates. He used to send me samples of new flavors he was working on and I also discovered how hard he works to get the flavors just right.

Dolphin Chocolates are not the sinfully sweet, rich and decadent chocolate I used to crave. Now I find myself opening one when I want the real taste of chocolate, peanut butter, mint, and roasted almonds. It's an experience like no other I've had while eating chocolate. I want to encourage you to try them yourself and see if you are as addicted to them as I am.

Hank also donates a percentage of money to the Wild Dolphin Project and the Environmental Defense Fund. He's very committed and dedicated to his work and I'd like to see him in business a long time.

You can find Dolphin Chocolates in Whole Foods and other health food stores across the country. Or you can order them online at a great price.

Erin Pavlina is the author of Raising Vegan Children in a Non-Vegan World, and a new cookbook, Vegan Family Favorites. She lives in Las Vegas with her vegan husband and children, Emily and Kyle.

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