Review: Choconette Banana Chocolate Spread Mix

Today’s review circles around two of my favourite flavours and foods: banana, and chocolate. You may often see a theme repeatedly arise through all my content in these, as it’s a very easy sell to get me to try anything containing banana, or banana flavoured in particular! They have been my favourite fruit since I was very little, and are my go-to snack when I don’t know what to grab. Plus they’re typically a vegan saviour when you inevitably end up in a café that doesn’t have a good choice of foods!

Since moving into veganism, I had been seeking alternatives to typical spreads for sandwiches. My other half works a job with fluctuating hours and, in the nicest way, he is not a good cook. Neither am I, though I can manage basics; have we inevitably eaten a lot of variations on sandwiches, cereal and similar for lunch as a consequence. I am also hoping to start a job that is largely desk and office based and wanted to pick up options that can be eaten swiftly in a breakroom.

There’s a great many options out there for vegans, vegetarians and folks with allergies, thankfully. But my interest was piqued by one with a seemingly unique selling point that coupled with those flavours I mentioned: chocolate banana spread that you make yourself. This product comes from Choconette, a French brand who have endeavoured to make an organic, oil-free and high quality product mix that you turn into spread at home. You need only add your dairy-free milk of choice to end up with your tasty chocolate mix that can be added to whatever you desire!

Their mixes come in four types: Crème Chocolate, Banana Chocolate, Hazelnut Chocolate and Chocolate with No Added Sugar. In terms of Quality, the branding and boxes are punchy. They come in bright colours relevant to the flavours and clearly labelling all their ingredient facts proudly – they are vegan friendly, without oil, with gluten-free fair-trade organic chocolate and cane sugar. The instructions are very easy to follow, printed on the back of the box, and so there is little room for disaster even for the most green of kitchen-goers.

The smell straight out of the box is fantastic. The chocolate is rich, and the aroma from the mixture of almonds and hazelnuts is just the right amount of woody headiness. I decided I wanted to put the mix together with two purposes, as the box instructs you can enjoy Choconette spread warm, or once it chills and sets a little more. So when I made my batch I put some of the slightly heated mix into porridge, and set the excess aside for the purpose of making toast the next morning.

Making the spread from start to finish took maybe five minutes at best, and that includes prepping – getting the milk in the pan, warming it up, and then moving the completed mixture into a ramekin to chill. It’d be great for someone with little time who still wants something of a high grade and a different flavour. I found that, because the Choconette packaging contains minimal packaging and mostly (if not entirely) recyclable containers, that it’d be fantastic for cutting out the waste that comes with a typical jar of spread.

While still warm, the consistency of the spread was rather liquid. This was with the instructions followed, and so I think that in the future I may add my liquid a little at a time to the mix in a separate pan to ensure I get the thickness I’m after. You can always add, but never take away, after all! However, the shiny and creamy mix I did have also made me think that it would be interesting to see the Choconette spread as an icing replacement in cakes and baking. It had that slight runny texture that is typical of a glaze without being too loose.

The Taste was great, with only a tiny personal hiccup in eating it. I loved the general flavours of malt and chocolate. You could tell the powder mixture had been formed of good ingredients, because you could taste all of them – barring one. I couldn’t get banana, no matter how much I tried! This was okay in the end, as I found my chocolate cravings nonetheless deeply satisfied after a small amount of the Choconette spread. It mixed excellently into the porridge without separating or being grainy, which I know many powder based foods can get.

The chilled spread was a great deal thicker, and worked excellently on toast – and presumably would do well in a sandwich or on crackers, oatcakes, et al. The flavour was just as present as it was when the mixture was still warm and fresh off the pan, if not just a little more present in the malt and nut flavours as it had been the previous day. I got more banana from it when the mix had set comparatively, as well, though it was not a defining flavour. I felt that was a bit of a shame as it was one of my big draws for purchasing. Still, it didn’t put me off at all from wanting to try the Choconette mix again, even if in a different flavour next time.

Price-wise, the mixture was £5.99 for around 150g of product dry, and roughly 200g wet. You do get a good amount of spread from this that keeps for 10 days as recommended by the manufacturer. The ingredients do speak to the price tag; everything in the Choconette spread is well-sourced and there are no nasties in its contents. You aren’t getting your money per weight if you compare this to other vegan-friendly spreads out there, but I feel the versatility of the mixture you get would also lend itself to other types of cooking other than just putting it on toast or something else. The flavour is also strong enough in the spread mix that you likely wouldn’t be using as much at a time compared to an out-of-the-jar spread.

Overall I was very happy. I can see this being a fun foodstuff to buy a friend who is adventurous in the kitchen as much it’d be accessible for someone who’s shy of the kitchen. That it’d lend itself to cooking with family, as well – I can see kids getting really stuck in by helping put the mix together and using it on fairy cakes or just to help make lunch. I’m looking to buy some more of this spread in the future – and hopefully next time, I’ll get that banana hit on top.

Choconette Banana Chocolate Spread Mix
Available online and in certain stores – most easily found on Amazon, though I bought mine from The Natural Food Company ( http://www.thenaturalfoodcompany.co.uk/ ) in Nottingham
Choconette’s website is available at Choconette.com
And you can follow Choconette on Instagram

VeganSane Scores:
Price: 4/5 – There was a good amount of product to use up after everything was mixed together, making the steeper price tag a little more affordable. Definitely look around for where you can make a purchase – I found my pack at a local store in Nottingham which saved on postage and packaging. The ingredients were also of a high grade, as is further detailed under Quality, and so it made the price more worthwhile.
Taste: 4/5 – A lovely thick mixture, with strong chocolate, malt and nut flavours both when warm and when chilled and set. I found things were stronger tasting when the spread was cold, especially as I didn’t get the banana flavours the first time trying the Choconette mix (while warm).
Quality: 5/5 – Vibrant, colour-coordinated cardboard with all cooking instructions easily explained on the box. The mix is kept in a thin plastic baggie inside, and is formed entirely of well-sourced ingredients, with no oil in sight. You can find more evidence of this in how well the spread tastes and keeps, and I found overall the general image of the product stuck with me. Most importantly, it was fun to make!
Total Score: 13/15