Would your chocolates be considered an ultra-processed food (UPF)?Updated 8 months ago

The answer to this is not straightforward!  And what even is an 'ultra-processed food'?!?

There are all sorts of complicated definitions, but in layman's terms it is said that a food made only with ingredients you would find in a domestic kitchen - so excluding chemical additives as colourings, preservatives, sweeteners, 'texturisers' etc - is not ultra-processed.

So for the centres of our chocolates, we take just a few kitchen cupboard ingredients, carefully chosen for their flavours and personality - e.g. Dorset sea salt, fresh organic Cotswolds cream and wildflower honey from Salisbury Plain.  No thickeners, no sweeteners, no colourings, no flavourings... no 'E' numbers!

We then use the least processing possible, mixing and piping them just as you would at home.  The wonderful colour, texture and sweetness come from Steve's expertise as a chocolatier.  During the development stage he tests and re-tests each flavour until he gets the recipe just right.  Then, rather than using chemicals, we rely on the natural preservative properties of the wildflower honey (and the temperature of your fridge!) to keep them deliciously fresh for longer.

So far so good!

The catch is that the chocolate we use to enrobe the centres is technically seen as an ultra-processed food.  This is because the cocoa it is made from requires a degree of processing - including the addition of a trace of soy lecithin.  This acts as an emulsifier, to make the chocolate smooth, workable and suitably pleasant to eat.

At this point in time, it is pretty much impossible to find milk or mild dark chocolate that hasn't undergone at least this degree of processing.  For this reason, any product that includes chocolate will almost always be seen as ultra-processed.

So, to summarise, we absolutely believe in the philosophy that the best foods use just a few high quality kitchen ingredients, minimally processed, BUT there is one element that's very challenging to avoid that is considered to be 'ultra-processed' - and that is in the chocolate shell.  So by definition, our chocolates would strictly be seen as ultra-processed too.  

Having said this, we genuinely believe we are at the best end of a very broad spectrum!