I love to support new brands as much as possible. When they’re chocolate based it makes it even more exciting. A few weeks ago I was kindly sent a generous selection of Doisy & Dam chocolate bars to sample. As you can see, they’re all beautifully packaged in colourful boxes. You should also take a look at their website, it’s just as colourful.
The founders, Ed and Rich are childhood friends who aspired to own a business together. They left their jobs in marketing and finance to create the foodie adventure that is Doisy & Dam. You can find out more about the founders in this interview. They’ve created a fantastic product and I can’t wait to see how the brand develops.
Doisy & Dam chocolate bars are hand-crafted in Norfolk. All bars use 74% organic dark chocolate and then they’re each packed full of superfoods to create a perfect balance between health and taste. You won’t find any chemical nasties in Doisy & Dam chocolate and they’re vegan and gluten-free.
Ginger, Chilli Flakes & Hemp Seed: As soon as you pop a square of this chocolate into your mouth you can detect the ginger and quickly after you’ll come across the chunky chilli flakes. These are really warming and a delight to crunch down. This chocolate bar also contains hemp seeds. Hemp seeds contain lots of the essential fatty acids we need and they’re also a good source of protein for vegans. I liked all the Doisy & Dam chocolate bars but this was probably my favourite. I’m going to stock up on more of this for the winter months.
Goji & Orange: I know I said that the Ginger, Chilli Flakes & Hemp Seed bar was my favourite but Goji & Orange comes in at a close second. This bar is much sweeter than the rest. It has a sweet (natural) orange flavour and is packed full of deliciously big chunks of goji berries. I found that this bar was a real treat when I was craving something extra sweet.
Mullberries, Chia Seeds & Spirulina: This chocolate bar isn’t as sweet as the others but it sure is just as tasty. I really like the crunchy little chia seeds and sweet mulberries within this bar. Doisy & Dam do an excellent job at creating lots of texture in their chocolates. This chocolate also contains spirulina. Spirulina is a blue-green algae, two thirds of which is pure protein and a source of vitamin B12, iron and magnesium. It sounds healthy, but slightly strange. Don’t worry though, there’s no unusual taste to this bar. It’s another very tasty treat for after dinner.
Coconut & lucuma: As soon as you unwrap this chocolate bar the smell of coconut hits you. It also tastes just as good as it smells. It has quite a sweet taste and I particularly like the little flakes of coconut within it. This chocolate contains Lucuma, which I hadn’t heard of before. It’s a fruit which is native to the Peruvian Andes. Lucuma provides a good source of potassium, iron, zinc and B vitamins. If you’re a fan of coconut and dark chocolate then you’re going to really enjoy this chocolate bar.
Maca, vanilla & cacao nibs: I love love love the crunch of the cacao nibs within this bar. The vanilla helps to make this a sweet chocolate alongside the bitter cacao nibs. Doisy & Dam use organic Peruvian maca root powder. It provides a source of calcium, iron and vitamin B2. I still have a little of this left over and I plan on doing some baking with it this weekend.
Eat this chocolate slowly (eat all chocolate slowly). Place a square in your mouth and let it melt, this will give you the chance to really taste each flavour within the bar and fully experience the different textures.
I’m now a big fan of Doisy & Dam. I’ll certainly be repurchasing their chocolate bars in the future. You can buy Doisy & Dam chocolate online or in Whole Foods, Planet Organic and Ocado.