Hey Vegans: Purdy’s Just Expanded Its Vegan Chocolate Line

When I shared the news of Purdy’s new vegan offerings and a potential taste test on our editorial Slack channel, it was less the “vegan” moniker that got our food editor going than the other descriptor that came along with the press release: “Less sweet!” wrote Dani (exclamation mark included). “Yes!”

Myself, I’ve got a vested interest in vegan chocolates too: both my sister and my niece have dairy allergies (my nephew managed to grow out of his, something he likes to humble brag about now and again), so a Purdy’s vegan Hawaiian black salt caramel box regularly makes its way under the Christmas tree. (And as a dairy-loving, non-vegan myself, I’d agree those salted caramels are pretty spectacular—you aren’t missing a thing between their traditional Himalayan pink salt caramels and their vegan varieties.)

While the salted caramels come in both vegan “mylk” chocolate and dark, the new vegan collections is all dark chocolate—hence leaning into the “less sweet.” They’re also all fruit-forward. And, I’d say, competitive with the non-vegan counterparts from Purdy’s, too.

In an office taste test, the opinions were mainly thumbs up. Vegan mango was the clear winner, with a tart-sweet mango puree and chocolate ganache pairing well with the vegan dark chocolate shell. Vegan fig was a close second with those who were fans of the classic fig newton (a term in and of itself that seems to have gone out of fashion—fig bar, these days), and the vegan raspberry offered a classic chocolate-raspberry pairing. The only divisive flavour was tonka, which felt a little too fruity—more sour than warm vanilla, as you’d expect tonka to be.

All are available now—and for holiday stockings down the road, too.