Certified by the Soil Association, bearing the Fairtrade symbol and an Ethical Award winner, Seed and Bean is an organic chocolate company to admire. Read on to see my review of some of their delicious and unusually flavoured organic chocolate bars.
This post is an amalgamation of four other posts where I’ve reviewed Seed and Bean organic chocolate bars. It stretches over a four year period, so you’ll find plenty to choose from.
Organic September
Whilst every month is organic month in this household, I do like to support the #OrganicSeptember campaign. I have always been a strong believer in organic food, not so much for the health benefits, although that is important, but for the environmental ones. Growing food organically is the least harmful way of meeting human needs whilst allowing insects, birds and other wildlife to survive.
Organic food doesn’t have to be expensive; we live on a pretty tight budget. I buy some of our staples such as oats, rice, lentils and dried fruit in bulk which reduces the cost considerably. We also grow many of our own vegetables. Just buying one or two regular items that have been produced using organic ingredients can make a positive difference.
Seed and Bean chocolate bars are all organic.
FairTrade Fortnight
Fairtrade Fortnight is less of an event these days. Most chocolate companies here in the UK use fairtrade chocolate. But this wasn’t the case when I first wrote about Seed and Bean chocolate bars. And even now there are plenty of products that are unfairly traded.
Fairtrade Fortnight runs around the first two weeks of March each year. It’s a chance to “choose products that save lives”. Take a look at this Fairtrade Fortnight breakfast post to find out more on why buying fairtrade chocolate helps growers in poorer parts of the world. It’s also worth having a look at another fairtrade post for this chocolate cashew pie recipe alone.
Seed and Bean
Certified by the Soil Association, Seed and Bean are officially the UK’s most ethical chocolate brand. Their bars are organic, fairtrade and ethically produced. In fact, they are the only company to score 100 out of 100 in the good Shopping Guide’s ethical index.
They have a direct relationship with their cocoa bean growers in Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and on the Sao Tomé Islands off West Africa. This ensures a better income for the producers and a more sustainable crop. As you would expect from a good quality product, all of their ingredients are natural and only real fruit is used.
Founded in 2005 by principal chocolatier Stephen Rudkin, the bars are still handmade in small batches in Northamptonshire. Not only is the chocolate ethical, but it tastes good too. Not something you can say about all ethical chocolate.
The packaging is particularly attractive. It captures my attention every time. You can see this in the top photo where there’s a veritable rainbow of colours.
I was particularly pleased to find that the inner “foil” wrappers are actually made from something called nature flex which is fully home compostable. I wish I’d known about this before, but the message doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the wrapping, which is where it probably should be if they want people to compost rather than throw.
Seed and Bean Organic Chocolate Bar Range
The Seed and Bean range is currently made up of eighteen different flavours, including seven award winners. The two most recent award winning bars are an extra dark (70%) with Cornish sea salt and a rich milk (37%) with Sicilian hazelnut and almond. I have reviewed the former and you can fine the latter further down this post.
Flavours come and go, but they’re all intriguing. This is what Seed and Bean have to say on the subject.
“First and foremost we pride ourselves on our flavours. We have always made sure to be challenging with our flavour combinations, to create flavours that no one else is doing, and that you might have never seen or tried before. Live on the wild side of taste with our English Botanically inspired adventurous and unique flavours.”
Some of the flavours I eventually got to try are the dark chocolate (58%) lemon and cardamom, dark chocolate (72%) pumpkin seeds and hemp oil and the milk chocolate (37%) tangerine.
Twelve of the bars are suitable for vegans.
Interestingly, I noted from a previous review of the milk chocolate Cornish sea salt and lime that the cocoa content has gone up from 30% to 37%, which in my book makes it even more delicious. In fact the four milk chocolate bars all have a cocoa content of 37%, which although I’d prefer to be higher still, is much better than most chocolate bars you’re likely to come across.
Whilst my mouth waits with anticipation to savour the inner secrets of the bars, my eyes feast on the multi coloured outer packaging – a veritable rainbow of colours. The graphics are eye-catching and the colour of the wrapper reflects the flavour of the bar. Really I don’t think I can improve on their own words: “we fill our days with the soulful pursuit of creating kaleidoscopic moments of pleasure”.
I’ve already reviewed some of the ten bars I was sent. Some of the others I’m planning to bake up a storm with and two I couldn’t resist trying out almost immediately. You can see which ones those were below.
In the end, I made some oaty ginger chocolate chip cookies with the just ginger bar.
You can find Seed and Bean bars at various independent shops around the UK, Ireland and Europe. You can also buy them direct via their online shop. The bars weigh 85g, all but the milk chocolate and the dark chocolate bars which have recently gone up a size and are now a hefty 100g. They all vary in price but cost around £2.30.
Coconut and Raspberry (66% dark)
cocoa mass, raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, coconut oil, raspberries, soya lecithin, vanilla extract
With its subtle flavour of coconut and fruity taste of raspberry along with a backdrop of smooth dark chocolate, this is really rather wonderful. It’s a combination I’ve not come across before, but it works very well.
The raspberry leaves a tart and refreshing taste in the mouth. Whilst the chocolate is smooth, there is texture from the powdered raspberries which makes me want to munch rather than savour. For a dark chocolate, this is really rather moreish.
Chilli and Lime (72%)
cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla extract, chilli powder, lime oil
Lime is the first flavour to hit the senses. Indeed a rich aroma of lime and chocolate emanates enticingly from the bar and when the chocolate touches your mouth, it is lime you can taste. It doesn’t take long though for the chocolate and spice to catch up and gradually your mouth fills with the warming power of chilli.
I found the balance of both lime and chilli to be just right. Both were noticeable, but neither overwhelming and they worked in tandem with the smooth dark Dominican trinitario chocolate to give a particularly pleasurable experience. This chocolate is rich though and a couple of squares at any one time is enough to satisfy.
Seed and Bean New Editions
Not only is Seed and Bean an ethical company, but it has won two great taste awards from the Academy of Chocolate. It has an interesting and unusual flavour range including coconut & raspberry, lemon & cardamom, pumpkin seeds & hemp oil and Cornish sea salt. Recently they brought out a range of new flavours and a while ago they sent me two of their new bars to review.
The chocolate they use for the majority of bars is a good quality Trinitario from the Dominican Republic, so I was expecting to like them. Luckily, I wasn’t disappointed. And now I’ve tasted them, all I can say is I wish they’d sent me more.
Lemon & Poppy Seed
Creamy White Chocolate cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, poppy seeds, lemon oil, soya lecithin, vanilla powder
Whilst I am a big fan of using white chocolate in baking, I usually find it too sweet and sickly to eat on its own. However, this bar is neither overly sweet nor sickly and if CT hadn’t been around I would have happily eaten the whole bar all by myself.
The lemon offsets any excessive sweetness that might linger on the palate. I was also pleased to discover that the lemon is quite subtle and tastes more zesty than sour.
The poppy seeds give a delightful crunch to proceedings and have a delicate nutty flavour all of their own. I’ve made lemon and poppy seed cake many a time and now I’m wondering why I’ve never added white chocolate to it – something which needs to be remedied I feel.
I’m almost tempted to use a bar of this chocolate to make the cake. But perhaps that would be a waste of a good bar? It did get a great taste gold award after all.
Mandarin & Ginger
Extra Dark Chocolate 72%. cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla extract, mandarin oil, ginger oil
The flavour of mandarin hit first followed by a really rich punch from the dark chocolate finishing with a hint of gingery warmth which lingers in the mouth. Very nice. Neither too sweet nor too bitter, the ginger gave a subtle support to the mandarin and the two flavours were well balanced.
The chocolate melted smoothly in the mouth and was more refined in character than many chocolates I’ve tasted. Dark is not my first chocolate of choice, but I really enjoyed this one. The great thing about good dark chocolate such as this, is that a little goes a very long way. A couple of squares in and my chocolate craving is satisfied – for a while! A very enjoyable bar.
Seed and Bean Glastonbury Festival Editions
Back in the summer of 2013, Seed & Bean brought out three limited edition 85g chocolate bars specifically for that year’s Glastonbury Festival in June. The inner wrappers are compostable, made primarily from eucalyptus trees and all bars are handmade in small batches.
The wrappers are wonderfully colourful and festive. Matt Lyons, aka C86, is the artist responsible for their design. If you’re quick, you may be lucky enough to get your hands on a bar. They’re available at £2.29 on the online shop, which seems reasonable for a top ethical product from a small British producer.
Sicilian Hazelnut
Fine Dark Chocolate (58% cocoa – cane sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, vanilla extract, hazelnut paste).
This is like eating a fine bar of guinduja. It’s rich, but very smooth and creamy at the same time, despite containing no dairy. The bitter notes from the dark chocolate have a slightly drying on the mouth quality and counteracts any cloying tendency there might otherwise be. CT did his usual blind testing and detected hazelnut straight away. We really liked this bar.
Cornish Sea Salt & West Indies Lime
Rich Milk Chocolate (30% cocoa solids – cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, vanilla extract, lime oil, smoked sea salt, soy lecithin).
Despite having quite a low cocoa content, this was my favourite bar. Although you think I might be a little biased by the inclusion of Cornish Sea Salt, I do like milk chocolate. I’m also particularly fond of the sweet and salt combination. Some sea salt chocolate bars really go to town with the salt, but this one is much more finely balanced and suits me very well.
The touch of lime, gives an uplifting quality and a tropical feel. If you can get to it before it melts, it’s ideal chocolate for the temperatures we’re currently experiencing. The chocolate is ultra smooth and melts beautifully in the mouth. A very fine chocolate bar indeed.
Raspberry & Vanilla
Creamy White Chocolate (30% cocoa solids – cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, raspberry powder, soya lecithin, vanilla powder).
White chocolate, by its very nature, is overly sweet and often cloying. But I wasn’t going to let that put me off. And actually, I guess because of the inclusion of fruit, this wasn’t as sweet as I was expecting.
In my sweeter toothed moments, this bar would hit the spot very nicely. It has a grainier texture than the others, which helps to counteract the sweetness. The raspberry flavour is quite pronounced and its sharpness reminds me of sherbet.
More Seed and Bean Chocolate Bars
This time, Seed and Bean sent me five of their chocolate bars to try. They were all new to me. Four of them were prizes for one of my famous Chocolate Log Blog giveaways.
The first was their award winning Sicilian Hazelnut & Almond (37%) which is pure delight. It’s a milky gianduja, which is smooth, creamy and not too sweet. It has an aroma of roasted hazelnuts and a taste of Italian sophistication. I meant to try just a little bit and before I knew it the whole bar had disappeared – how did that happen?
The dark (58%) Lemon and Cardamom is also a new one on me. And it’s completely enthralled me. Like all of the Seed and Bean chocolate I’ve tried, the flavours are subtle, but most definitely present. Lemon and cardamom are closely aligned in flavour, yet they complement each other so well. I used this chocolate to top my lemon coconut cakes.
I was intrigued to find out how the Tangerine milk chocolate bar (37%) tasted. That’s because I thought it would be hard to differentiate the flavour from that of orange. The scent of citrus was there and extraordinarily it really did taste of tangerines, not oranges. It is, in fact, quite a delicious bar.
The fourth one in the pack is another milk chocolate one, Cornish Sea Salt & Lime (37%). This is a firm favourite of mine which I have reviewed before (see below). Since writing that review, Seed and Bean have, much to my delight, upped the cocoa content of their chocolate. I’m hoping they will up it again at some point as a higher cocoa content makes for a richer and less sweet chocolate. In my world, all milk chocolate would have a minimum of 40%.
Seed and Bean also sent me an additional bar of dark Espresso (58%). I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m thinking CT will be much enamoured.
Let Us Know
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you try any Seed and Bean chocolate bars, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations?
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If you’d like more chocolate reviews, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them.
Choclette x
Thanks to Seed and Bean for sending me various chocolate bars to try out over a four year period. I was not required to write a favourable review and as always, all opinions are my own.
Sarah Bates says
These all look delicious but I would love to try that Chilli and Lime!!
Jennifer Ferris says
The flavors look wonderful!
Debi @ Life Currents says
These sound so great! I can’t wait to find some!
bangers-and-mash.com says
I haven’t come across this brand before but they sound fab and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for them. Love the sound of lemon and cardamom!
The Yogi Vegetarian says
These look wonderful- must try the vegan ones 🙂
Johanna GGG says
the packaging is lovely and eye catching – and strangely enough the two you focus on are the two that I have bought recently – I loved the berry one but left the chilli one to E who loved it
belleau kitchen says
Love the branding. Really cool. Nice review too. I feel the same way about organically grown produce. Nice choc hall x
The Spicy Pear says
What a colourful array of chocolates, in an assortment of colours. I especially like the idea of the chilli and lime.
Kate Glutenfreealchemist says
What a rainbow of colours…… Someone had a good marketing head on when they designed those! I love the sound of the lemon and cardamom….
Katherine GG says
Love that first photo with all the colours. The range of flavours is very impressive too!
Abbigayle Warner says
wow! I’ve never heard of this company before but it looks brilliant! I need to try some! raspberry and vanilla sounds amazing! yum!
Abbi xxx
Janice Pattie says
Love the colours and what great flavour combinations, I reckon I would have chosen those two to eat as well!