Give some LOVE for Valentine´s Day
We wanted to know everything about our first pink Lovechock, so we interviewed our product manager Efraim about the development process of our new LOVE bar and found out interesting facts about hibiscus, funny behind the scenes stories and where this bar has its name from.
Efraim, how did the idea of a pink chocolate develop?
Efraim: (laughs) Well, that was quite the journey actually! Our Lovechock CEO Franziska has wanted to create an organic, vegan version of Ruby chocolate for quite some time. Ruby chocolate is pink chocolate which gets its colour from a special fermentation process and has a slightly fruity taste. Until now, there was no organic and vegan version of Ruby chocolate. So the idea has been in our mind for quite a while. What made it more challenging was that we were not content with just having a pink-coloured chocolate. In line with our pioneering spirit, we were looking for something special which would make a difference not only in colour, but also in the taste.
So what finally made the difference?
Efraim: Two years ago, we started developing our Golden White range. At that time, we also started the process of our pink chocolate which in many ways is similar to the Golden White. Once we had the final recipe for our vegan white chocolate, we looked at pink coloured ingredients, such as powdered blueberries and beetroot. We experimented a bit with these but the chocolate came out too dark. The breakthrough was that we noticed a trend in the tea sector, and that was hibiscus.
We proceeded to made 19 different variations with hibiscus and cranberries! In the last variant, we added raw cacao nibs which add extra cacao flavour, a lovely crunch and therefore are an essential part of the LOVE bar experience. A little fun fact: hibiscus was no easy choice. It might be a power flower but it can also be rather sour. So we had to find the exact balance of not being too sour but still having the hibiscus flavour and of course that lovely colour.
We are really proud that our final bar now has a very clean label and simply consists of cocoa butter, rice drink powder, coconut blossom sugar, dried cranberries, raw cacao nibs and hibiscus powder.
You said hibiscus is a power flower, what do you mean by that?
Efraim: Hibiscus has some amazing qualities! It contains a lot of vitamin C and is known as a natural remedy to relieve cramps such as menstrual cramps, stabilize blood pressure and lower blood sugar. It is also a very pure ingredient which makes it a perfect match for Lovechock. The dried flowers have a fresh and sour aroma and taste a bit like red fruit. Last but not least, they provide this beautiful colour! I mean, have you ever seen such a pink chocolate?
And why is this bar called “LOVE” instead of being named after the main ingredients like all the other Lovechock raw chocolates?
Efraim: Well, we wanted to create a bar to give some love back to our Lovechock fans. When we saw this beautiful pink colour, we all thought this bar would be a perfect little gift for Valentine’s or Mother’s day. And that’s what these days are all about - giving all your love to someone, right? In my opinion, there definitely is no other chocolate that says “love” quite as well as our new LOVE bar!