Easter is an especially busy time of year for chocolate retailers, as a tempting range of bunnies, eggs and chocolate-filled hampers come on the market, bringing with it a spike in chocolate sales. 

But behind the Easter packaging and colourful foil wrapping there’s a dark side. Around 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from West Africa. It’s estimated that more than 1.56 million children and young people under the age of 18 work as labourers in cacao farming in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana alone. This number is estimated to have increased 15–20% during the pandemic.

Some of these children are trafficked; many are working under harmful labour conditions. And it’s the cocoa they produce that ends up in the chocolate we eat.

The good news is that in recent years there’s been an increase in consumer demand for ethical and sustainable production methods, which has resulted in growth of certified chocolate products – including ethical Easter eggs.

Which chocolate Easter eggs are more ethical?

Due to the uptick in consumer concern around climate change, sustainable agriculture and working conditions for small-scale farmers, more brands have been entering the ethical market, putting independent programs in place or independently certifying their chocolate products. 

As consumer awareness increases, some retailers such as Aldi, Coles and Woolworths have also introduced their own certified chocolate and cocoa offerings. 

What’s considered ethical might be different for different people. For the purposes of this article, we’re applying the term to those chocolate products that have been certified by one of the primary certification bodies available in Australia: Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade, or Cocoa Horizons.

While certification may not be perfect, it is often a positive step towards sustainability, especially when included as a part of other initiatives.

Certified chocolate and Easter eggs

So as Easter rolls around again, which brands have certified chocolate options available?

• Aldi’s Dairy Fine, Choceur and Moser Roth chocolate ranges are Rainforest Alliance- or Fairtrade-certified.
• Bennetto Natural Foods Co is B Corp-Certified, works with charitable partners and offsets their carbon emissions. Their chocolate is Fairtrade-certified, organic, vegan and gluten free.
• Chocolatier Australia‘s chocolate eggs are Rainforest Alliance-certified.
• Coles own brand cocoa products are Fairtrade- and Rainforest Alliance/UTZ-certified. They also use certification schemes such as Cocoa Horizons to reduce their impact on the environment.
• Darrell Lea sources 100% of its cocoa from sustainable sources through a partnership with Cocoa Horizons.
• Ferrero has 100% independently certified fairtrade cocoa in their chocolate products, with certifications from Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Cocoa Horizons.
• Haigh’s sources 80% of its cocoa from Rainforest Alliance-certified farms.��
• Koko Black sustainably sources its cocoa through Cocoa Horizons.
• Lindt sources all of its cocoa through the Rainforest Alliance certification program as of 2026. They also have their own farming programs in place to help reduce harm in their supply chains.
• Nestle has their own Cocoa Plan and in Australia all the cocoa they use in local production is Rainforest Alliance-certified. This can be found in KitKat, MilkyBar and Aero bars.
• Pico chocolate blocks are Fairtrade-certified, vegan and organic.
• Whittakers’ Ghanaian cacao beans are 100% Rainforest Alliance-certified – you’ll find this logo on chocolate that contains these beans.
• Woolworths’ Homebrand chocolate blocks are certified by Rainforest Alliance/UTZ.

Mondelez (Cadbury), Mars and Hershey have their own programs in place to reduce harm in their cocoa supply chains, although this ethically and sustainably sourced cocoa may not be in all products.

Be Slavery Free Chocolate Scorecard

Advocacy coalition Be Slavery Free works with a number of universities and NGOs to produce an annual , which is released prior to Easter and can help inform your buying decisions.��

This list rates the most sustainable chocolate brands and Easter eggs against a number of categories, including deforestation, environmental impacts and climate action, child labour, traceability and transparency in supply chains, and living income for workers.��

“The Chocolate Scorecard is immensely helpful in showing where a huge number of companies are in their journey to sustainability,”  says Antonie Fountain of the VOICE Network, a watchdog and catalyst for a reformed cocoa sector.

The scorecard captures 90% of the global chocolate industry, and from 2023 the scorecard has also ranked retailers such as Kmart, Aldi, Costco and David Jones.

Each year Be Slavery Free also announces winners of a Good Egg Award and Rotten Egg Award. These awards reflect innovation in sustainability practices, or lack thereof. The 2026 Good Egg Awards were topped by Tony’s Chocolonely, with Mars winning the Gender Award recognising its work for supporting gender equality and reductions in child labour.

Mondelēz (Cadbury), was given the Bad Egg award due to a lack of transparency after failing to share any information for the awards.��

Fuzz Kitto, Co Director at Be Slavery Free says the Chocolate Scorecard is a helpful tool for shoppers.

“Consumers are being asked to swallow record chocolate prices, and shrinking products. The least they expect is chocolate free from slavery. The Chocolate Scorecard will help shoppers make smart purchases this Easter.”

The Scorecard and awards have helped encourage progress in the chocolate industry, with some brands vying to do better.��

For example In 2020, Godiva received a Rotten Egg Award for “failing to take responsibility for the conditions with which its chocolates are made despite making huge profits”. But the brand now states they are dedicated to “a sustainable and thriving cocoa industry where farmers prosper, communities are empowered, human rights are respected, and the environment is conserved” – although there are still improvements to be made. 

Nestle has also made progress in its practices, rising into the top 5 on the Scorecard in 2026.��Lindt has risen from 20th in 2025 to 13th this year, while Mars and Ferrero have both dropped in the rankings.

Overall, 2026’s findings have shown improvements in transparency across the industry, with 82% of companies sharing data on child labour, compared to 45% in 2023. However there are still improvements to be made on deforestation, use of harmful pesticides and lifting farmers out of poverty.

“We can see that consumers are looking to make informed decisions and expect companies to act in an ethical way to eliminate child labour and to produce chocolate in a way that is sustainable for the planet,” says Andrew Wallis, CEO of Unseen, a UK charity working to eradicate human trafficking and modern slavery.

“Companies are responding to that. Normal people like you and me are making a difference and causing companies to change.” 

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Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate, but I don’t love paying more money for less of it, especially when it often tastes inferior to the original product it’s spawned from (hello Kit Kat eggs!). 

If you look past the pretty packaging and hollow hype, it’s clear the Easter Bunny and Big Choc are banking a sweet surcharge on our festive sugar rush. 

The worst offenders

Need some eggs-amples? Let’s start with that shady frog Freddo. At the time of writing, his 124g egg (which contains two Freddo treats inside) costs $11.50 at Woolworths, which equates to a unit price of $9.27 per 100g. 

By comparison, the usual 35g Freddo costs $2 at Woolies, or $5.71 per 100g. That’s a hefty hike of 62.35%, proving Freddo is pulling a fast one indeed. 

Over at Lindt, the EST (Easter Services Tax) is in full effect, with wildly different prices for 100g of milk chocolate. 

Their standard block costs $8.50 at Big W, while their famous gold bunny form sells for $12 for the same 100g weight. 

Okay, maybe the bunny’s cute ribbon and bell justifies the extra cost, but then there’s Lindt’s 93g milk chocolate ‘casket’ combo (containing one medium egg and 12 small eggs) which goes for a whopping $15, almost twice the price of the 100g block.

You can’t tell me whipping out an egg mould once a year justifies that kind of increase. 

It’s even more maddening when you realise some Easter items are losing weight at the same time (unlike me at Easter time). ����Vlog has exposed numerous cases of year-on-year “shrinkflation”, with popular products selling less chocolate for the same price, or even more. 

For example, in 2024, Cadbury Dairy Milk hollow eggs cost $12.50 for a 408g 24-egg pack ($3.06 per 100g). A year later, a box of 22 eggs cost more at $15 for 374g ($4.01 per 100g).

This year, a box costs $18 but it’s slimmed down again to 20 eggs at 340g ($5.29 per 100g). That’s a 73% increase in unit price over two years, with some serious Easter Ozempic going on too. 

Boycotting the Easter Bunny

It might all be worth it if these eggs actually tasted better than the original products, but let’s be honest, most don’t. We all know deep down that a Crunchie egg with its tiny honeycomb crumbs is no match for the delicious classic bar. 

How long will we put up with confectionery companies cashing in on our cacao-fuelled comas? Not to mention the extra packaging (aka landfill) this festive feasting generates, or the huge carbon miles some products clock up (the Lindt ‘casket’ is manufactured in Switzerland, Germany and Australia!). 

Maybe it’s time to boycott the Easter Bunny and demand a better deal because at the moment, these over-hyped, under-sized eggs aren’t worth shelling out for. 

In the meantime, I’m happily sticking to my old-school Crunchie bars.

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After all, they’re only tiny, right? And it’s easy to ignore the fact that you’ve eaten 10 of them in one sitting. That’s guilt-free indulgence in our books. 

With lots of different chocolate mini egg options on our supermarket shelves, we set out to find out which product wins on flavour.

And the winner is…

In a clear victory, the Cadbury eggs received the highest number of votes – 20 of the 27 tasters chose it as their favourite. Coles was next with six votes, Woolworths received one vote and there were no votes for the Darrell Lea eggs. 

In judging, more than one taster described the Darrell Lea option as chalky, saying it didn’t melt in the mouth as well as some of the others, though another judge thought it was quite creamy. The Woolworths option also didn’t earn much praise, with one taster describing it as “dusty”. 

The Coles eggs were described as “pretty good” and one of our tasters thought they were “the fanciest” of the lot.

But it was the Cadbury eggs that unequivocally earned the most praise. Judges said these eggs had a nice, consistent sweetness and a pleasant flavour. 

More than one taster identified it as the Cadbury variety straight away and noted that the familiarity was a deciding factor for them. 

Mini-egg prices compared

When it comes to cost, it’s hard to compare apples with apples, or even eggs with eggs, because pack sizes vary. We purchased the largest bag of each egg variety available at the time of purchase to secure the best unit price. 

Here are the results ordered from lowest to highest unit price.

• Coles 500g bag costs $10 ($2/100g)
• Woolworths 150g bag costs $5 ($3.33/100g)
• Cadbury 440g bag costs $16 ($3.64/100g)
• Darrell Lea 110g bag costs $7.50 ($6.82/100g)

What’s in your chocolate egg?

Looking at ingredients, all of the eggs in our test had the same amount of cocoa solids (28%). Milk solids varied, with the Cadbury and Darrell Lea varieties including 24% of milk solids, while the Woolworths eggs contained 18% and the Coles 15.5%. Sugar, emulsifiers and flavours (mostly vanilla) were also present in all the eggs.

Most surprising was the presence of various nuts in the Woolworths eggs. Peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts were all listed in the ingredients panel. All the other eggs included a “may contain” warning about different nuts and other allergens, but Woolworths was the only product that included nuts in the ingredients list.

Cadbury, Darrell Lea and Woolworths eggs were all made in Australia, but the Coles eggs were packed in Italy.

How ethical are these eggs?

Cocoa farming, most of which takes place in West Africa, has a long history of environmental devastation and the use of child labour, among other concerns. Many brands make reassuring claims about their sourcing policies, but there are no easy answers to the question of ethics in cocoa supply chains

All the eggs we included feature some sort of claim to suggest ethical behaviour. Darrell Lea features a logo for , Cadbury promotes its link to and both Woolworths and Coles declare certification. 

Despite this, the researchers and advocates working to improve the ethics of cocoa farming acknowledge that the problems are complex, and defining what constitutes ethically sourced chocolate is not straightforward.

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But how do the different brands compare?

We looked at supermarket chocolate variety boxes from Celebrations, Roses and Favourites, and counted and categorised their contents to find out which box is best for caramel lovers, fruit-goo fans, and more. We also compared the results against our last boxed chocolate analysis back in 2020 with some shocking results. 

On this page:

• Top of the chocs
• Which box is best?
• Value for money
• Paying more for less: What’s changed since 2020?
• Product details

Top of the chocs

We asked our ����Vlog audience to tell us their favourite chocolates in a box of Roses, Celebrations and Favourites, with each respondent asked to select their three least and most liked options from each box.

Roses

Top three: Hazelnut Swirl (38%), Turkish Delight and Caramel Deluxe (36%)
Least popular: Orange Creme (42%), Passionfruit Delight and Turkish Delight (36%) 
Turkish Delight proved to be the most divisive of chocolates, inciting both love and hatred in equal amounts. While those who liked Turkish Delight had little to say on the subject, those who didn’t had plenty of opinions to share. 
“Who are the people who like Turkish Delight?  Because it’s nobody I know,” said one respondent. “Turkish delight is yuk and always has been,” added another. “Cadbury Turkish Delight is, and always has been, foul,” said a third. 
There were mixed comments on the overall selection. One respondent told us they “love them all”, while another declared that “Soft centres are outdated.” 
More than one respondent told us that they disliked the changes they’d seen to the selection and lamented the loss of their particular favourite. “Bring back the coffee-flavoured option,” one told us. Another said they missed the hazelnut option that contained a whole hazelnut in the middle.

Celebrations

Top three: Maltesers (49%), Mars and Snickers (48%)
Least popular: Bounty (40%), Galaxy Caramel and Galaxy Chocolate (35%).
“Why does Bounty even exist?” asked one respondent, taking chocolate criticism to existential levels. Another stated more simply that “I just don’t like Bounty.” “It’s just too coconutty. It’s overpowering,” said another. 
“Galaxy is pointless,” someone told us. 
While some derided this selection as underwhelming – “they are just basic chocolates”, one complained – others preferred Celebrations to the other two chocolate boxes because of important omissions.
“Yay, no Turkish Delight!” one said. Another said they preferred this one because it didn’t include fruit flavours. “Celebrations is by far the superior chocolate mix,” one told us.  Others complained that they were too sweet, and one went so far as to describe the contents as “absolutely rubbish”.

Favourites

Top three: Crunchie (47%), Cherry Ripe (40%), Turkish Delight (39%)
Least popular: Caramilk (42%), Turkish Delight (38%), Moro (31%)
Turkish Delight is again in the top three most and least liked options, with one respondent imploring the makers to “Stop trying to make Turkish Delight happen”. Once more, some took the opposing view: “Turkish Delight for the win!” said one enthusiastic fan. 
More than one respondent complained that the chocolates were overly sweet, and a few expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of a dark chocolate option. While the larger, 470g Favourites box contains the classic Old Gold Original dark chocolate, the smaller, 265g box we looked at doesn’t offer this choice.

And the winner of the best box is…

Our survey asked respondents to choose which supermarket chocolate box they’d give as a gift, ignoring price and basing their choice on the contents of each box. The winner, with 46% of the vote, was the Cadbury Favourites. Second was Roses with 40%, and in last place, earning just 16% was Celebrations.

Best chocolate box by flavour

Chocolate flavours can be divisive – someone’s dream treat can be another’s worst nightmare – which is reflected in the results of our survey (see Top of the chocs, above). 

For example, Turkish Delight ranked in the top three favourites in two boxes, but also landed in the bottom three  among those same selections. 

To help you choose the box of chocolates with the highest number of your preferred flavour, in November 2025 we purchased three boxes of each of the three chocolate variety boxes – Celebrations, Roses, and Favourites – and sorted the chocolates into eight categories to provide an average of the number and type of each chocolate in the boxes. For the full breakdown of what we found in each box, see Product details, below.

Caramel and toffee

If you love caramel or toffee flavours, opt for a box of Celebrations. It had the highest quota of chocolates containing caramel (46%) and three options to choose from: Mars, Snickers and Galaxy Caramel. 

Next highest was Roses with 22% (Classic Caramel and Caramel Deluxe) followed by Favourites with 19% from the Boost and Moro chocolates. 

Nuts

Prefer nuts with your chocolate? Then reach for a box of Celebrations. Its contents included the nut-laden Picnic, which accounted for 18% of the total. Sharing with someone who can’t eat nuts? Cadbury Roses have the fewest nutty treats with 9%.

Fruit creme

If you go gaga for gooey fruit cremes, a box of Roses is your best option, with more than a quarter of our box (29%) dedicated to fruity centres, including Passionfruit Delights along with Orange and Strawberry Cremes. Neither of the other two boxes contained a fruit-goo chocolate.

Mint

Roses is the only variety box we looked at that had a mint option (Peppermint Creme), but there were only three in each box of 34 chocolates (nine percent).

White chocolate

If white chocolate is your jam, these boxes might not be for you. Neither Roses nor Celebrations contained any white chocolate options. Favourites include the Caramilk, which is caramelised white chocolate, an option that may not please a white chocolate purist. Even then, it only makes up 11% of the total box.  

Dark chocolate

Dark chocolate fans should choose Roses, as 26% of its contents contain a dark-chocolate element. (Warning: two of the fruit creme options are included here, so if you dislike fruit goo you might want to steer clear.) Favourites come second with 11% dark chocolate options in the form of Cherry Ripes.

Coconut

Coconut lovers will want to pick up a box of Celebrations, which is 17% coconut-based chocs, while coconut haters will rejoice that Roses has none at all.

Turkish Delight

If you’re a fan of this controversial option, pick the Cadbury Favourites, which had the highest percentage of Turkish Delight at 11% of the total. In our analysis of the Roses boxes, Turkish Delight made up 9% of the contents. If you’re among those who don’t like it, Celebrations have none at all.

Note: percentages are based on the contents of three boxes/tubs of each brand, all bought in November 2025.

Value for money

Out of the three boxes, Celebrations was the cheapest option by unit price at $4.84 per 100g. Roses and Favourites were very similar to each other, at $5.26 and $5.28 per 100g

We also looked at the actual weight of each box of chocolates versus the claimed weight. All contained more than their claimed weight, with an average extra 18g more in our boxes of Celebration, 16g in the Roses and 12g in the Favourites, though this could be at least partly attributed to the wrappers on the individual chocolates that we left on during weighing.

Paying more for less chocolate: What’s changed since 2020?

Since we last looked at boxed chocolates in 2020 there have been well-publicised issues with shrinkflation, and chocolates are one of the products most commonly affected. In fact, chocolate products have appeared in many of the shrinkflation investigations we’ve conducted in recent years. 

The size of the boxes for Roses and Favourites have changed since 2020 so we were unable to do a head-to-head comparison but we could look at the unit price and see how that’s changed.

In 2020, we paid $15.50 for a 450g box of Roses. In 2025, we paid $20 for a smaller 380g box. Looking at the price per 100g of chocolate, that’s a huge increase of 53%. 

The Favourites selection we bought in 2020 was $14 for a 373g box. In 2025 $14 is the standard price of a smaller 265g box. That’s a 41% increase in price per 100g.

Celebrations was the only selection box that remained the same size. In 2020, their 320g box cost $12 and in 2025 that had risen to $15.50. That 29% increase was the lowest among the three chocolate box varieties we looked at. 

We also noted changes in the types of chocolates on offer in these selections. Favourites featured fewer dark chocolates, no longer offering the Old Gold in the size we looked at. They had also lost the Dream, Flake (replace by Twirl) and the Caramello (replaced by Caramilk). Roses had fewer nuts, a lot more fruit cremes and less white chocolate. If you were a fan of the White Raspberry, Hazelnut Creme Crisp or Dark Mocha Nougat you’ll be disappointed to learn they’re now gone from the box. Celebrations also contained fewer options containing nuts. 

Another big change is the loss of one much-loved supermarket chocolate box, Quality Street. Unfortunately, this product is no longer available in Australia, as Nestlé confirmed in November that it would no longer be imported.

Product details

About our survey: We surveyed our ����Vlog audience between 18 and 20 November 2025. We received 191 responses to our survey, and the data in this article is based on these results. 

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Meanwhile, chocolate that costs top dollar but doesn’t live up to the hype can leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

To sort the best blocks from the bland, our panel of three experts recently conducted a blind taste test of 19 supermarket milk chocolates from brands including Cadbury, Lindt, Woolworths, Coles and Aldi. Each chocolate was assessed on four criteria: taste, aroma, texture and appearance (read more about the test here).����

The test results were surprising, with our experts rating some cheaper chocs well above higher-priced blocks.��To make sure you don’t choose chocolate that disappoints, here are the best budget blocks plus the expensive ones to leave off your treat list.

The best-tasting budget milk chocolate

Woolworths Belgian Milk Chocolate

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 81% (Recommended)
• Price: $2 per 100g

Woolworths’ Belgian Milk Chocolate really punches above its weight: it’s the second-cheapest choc block in our test but also one of the highest scoring.

It’s less than half the price of Tony’s Chocolonely, which was rated the top choc block by our experts with a ����Vlog Expert Rating of 86%.��

(That means you can eat twice as much of it, right?)

Our experts gave this Woolsworth block a rating of 81%, saying it has a “pleasant sweetness that does not override or dominate”, “good aftertaste” and “nice melt in mouth”.

The cheapest chocolate overall – but it won’t knock your socks off

Aldi Dairy Fine Milk Chocolate

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 70%
• Price: $1.94 per 100g

If you’re looking to save, Aldi is generally hands-down the place to go.��

It consistently rates as the cheapest shop in our supermarket basket price survey, and many of its products perform well in our testing – and even outperform brand-name products costing many times more.

Unfortunately its Dairy Fine milk choc didn’t live up to Aldi’s usual standards – though perhaps you could say it did live up to its name since it’s “fine” but not great.

And if you thought that spending more on Aldi chocolate might buy you a better block, think again: Aldi Choceur milk chocolate costs $2.50 per 100g and scored just 67%.

Skip these cheap chocs and spend the money you’ve saved by shopping at Aldi on a better-tasting block from elsewhere.

The best cheap vegan, dairy free and sugar free chocolate

Unfortunately for people with dietary requirements, there’s not much in the way of cheap chocolate.

We tested a range of alternative chocolates, including vegan, dairy free, sugar free and one low-carb option that contains whey protein, and even the cheapest costs more than twice as much as cheaper regular chocolate.

Surprisingly, a no-sugar chocolate was one of the highest-scoring in our test.

Lindt’s Milk Chocolate No Sugar Added scored 83% and it’s one of the five chocolates our experts recommend.

But it isn’t cheap at $9.75 per 100g, and it does contain milk so isn’t suitable for vegans or dairy-free treat seekers.

By contrast, Coles’ No Added Sugar Mylk Chocolate is the cheapest of the dairy-free chocs we tested – and it’s the equal highest scoring of the bunch, so if you’re looking for a non-dairy, low-sugar treat, this is the one to buy.

Coles No Added Sugar Mylk Chocolate

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 71%
• Price per 100g: $5

Along with Pico Original M*lk, this was the top dairy-free chocolate.��

However, the Pico costs twice as much, so Coles delivers a better block for your buck – and it’s sugar free.

But that doesn’t mean you should overindulge: it’s sweetened with erythritol, which can cause digestive issues if you eat too much.��

The disappointing dairy-free chocolates

Nomo (No Missing Out) Creamy Choc Plant-Powered

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 56%
• Price per 100g: $8.55

Perhaps Nomo should consider a name change: you will be missing out with this vegan chocolate.

It took out the wooden spoon with a score of just 56% – though it only comes in a 38g bar, so at least it’s good in terms of portion control.

The experts were unanimous in their dislike of this chocolate, with comments including “it doesn’t have a pleasant aroma or flavour”, and “terrible texture with very fake flavour that’s not natural.”

Missing out on this vegan choc is probably a wise decision.

Lindt Classic Vegan Smooth

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 62%
• Price per 100g: $9.75

While Lindt is one of the top picks in the regular milk chocolate and sugar-free varieties, unfortunately it doesn’t cater so well to the vegan and dairy-free markets.��

(Though perhaps that’s to be expected for a brand that’s built its reputation on traditional chocolate.)

It came second last overall in our test and it’s the second most expensive of all the alternative chocs.

If you’re prepared to spend this kind of money, you’re better off going with Pico Original M*lk, which costs just 25 cents per 100g more and is the top-tasting vegan chocs our experts sampled.

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With the plant-based food market expanding rapidly, there are now plenty of options for vegans (and flexitarians) seeking a sugar rush. But what’s the best way to satisfy your chocolate cravings?

We threw several dairy-free curveballs into our dark and milk chocolate taste tests to keep our judges on their toes. They didn’t know which products were vegan and which weren’t, so they were judged on an even playing field.��

So we reveal the best tasting plant-based ‘milk’ chocolates and dark chocolates from our expert taste test – and how they compare with non-vegan products.��

How did we choose the best tasting vegan chocolate?

We set four chocolate experts the unfortunate task of tasting 24 milk/m*lk chocolates and 37 dark chocolates to see which ones they rated the best.��

Our experts are all highly regarded chocolate connoisseurs who have decades of experience between them. They tasted each chocolate ‘blind’, which means they didn’t know what brand they were tasting – and they didn’t know which products were dairy-free or not, so the vegan products had a fair go.��

They judged each product on its aroma, texture, flavour and appearance. We also assessed each product’s Health Star Rating – although, being chocolate, none of them scored particularly well in this respect!

But you’ll be pleased to know that taste accounted for 90% of each product’s score – since taste is the most important factor when it comes to chocolate!

Best tasting vegan ‘milk’ chocolate from our tests

There was one plant-based chocolate in our test that stood head and shoulders above the rest: Pico Original M*lk chocolate.��

Our expert taste testers rated it the best tasting of all the dairy-free chocolates in our test, with a taste score of 70% – almost 20 percentage points higher than the second-best vegan chocolate.��

What’s more, it had the second-highest cocoa content of all the products we tested, not just the vegan ones.��

On the downside, it was also one of the most expensive, costing $7.50 per 100g. In fact, vegan chocolate products are among the priciest on the market. The most expensive in our test was Pana Organic Mylk, costing a steep $11.25 per 100g.��

But a bit of extra cash may be a reasonable tradeoff for you if your motivations for cutting down on dairy are ethical or environmental.

How the top scoring vegan chocolate compares

Although 67% may not seem like a very high score, when compared with all the other milk chocolates we tested, the Pico actually does quite well. It outperforms brands like Green & Black’s, Darrell Lea, Lindt and Cadbury – and by a big margin. For comparison, Darrell Lea scored 55% and Cadbury Dairy Milk just 49%.��

For a plant-based chocolate to stand up so well against dairy-based traditional milk chocolates is no mean feat – so you know it’s good stuff.��

Here’s how the top three vegan ‘milk’ chocolates stack up:

1. Pico Original M*lk

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 67%
• Taste score: 70%
• Price per 100g: $7.50
• Country of origin: Made in Switzerland.

2. LovingEarth Creamy Coconut Mylk Chocolate with Raw Ashaninka Cacao

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 47%
• Taste score: 51%
• Price per 100g: $8.06
• Country of origin: Made in Australia.

3. Pana Organic Mylk

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 46%
• Taste score: 50%
• Price per 100g: $11.25
• Country of origin: Made in Australia using imported ingredients.

To learn more about milk chocolate, check out our guide to buying the best milk chocolate.��

The dark side

If you’re a dark chocolate lover, there are plenty of plant-based options available. Of the 37 dark chocolates we tested, no fewer than 23 were vegan – so you won’t have to miss out!

Many dark chocolate products are ‘accidental’ dairy-free foods – that is, they’re not made specifically for the vegan market, but by virtue of them being dark chocolates, they just happen not to contain any animal products. This is why you’ll see many more ‘mainstream’ brands like Lindt, Whittaker’s and even Coles’ own-brand dark chocolate in the plant-based dark chocolate category.��

In case you didn’t know, other accidental vegan foods include Burger Rings, Coco Pops and Oreos!

Once again, Pico was one of the star performers, scoring 74% and taking third place overall with its Super Dark 85% Cocoa Single Origin. It was also one of the most expensive, but also had one of the highest percentages of cocoa.��

But it couldn’t quite trump Lindt’s Excellence 90% Cocoa bar, which topped the group with a score of 79%. Coming in just behind it was Aldi’s Just Organic 70% Dark Chocolate with a score of 78%.��

Here’s how the top three stack up:

Lindt Excellence 90% cocoa

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 79%
• Taste score: 83%
• Price per 100g: $4.50
• Country of origin: Manufactured in Germany

Aldi Just Organic 70% Dark Chocolate

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 78%
• Taste score: 84%
• Price per 100g: $2.79
• Country of origin: Packed in Germany from imported ingredients.

Pico Super Dark 85% Cocoa Single Origin

• ����Vlog Expert Rating: 74%
• Taste score: 79%
• Price per 100g: $7.50
• Country of origin: Made in Switzerland. Cocoa from Dominican Republic.��

To learn more about choosing the best dark chocolate, check out our guide to buying the best dark chocolate.��

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Pair it on its own with a glass of red wine, use it as a starring ingredient in traditional desserts like mousses and tortes, or try adding it to a savoury dish for an extra cocoa kick.��

To coincide with our recent dark chocolate taste test of 37 brands, let us inspire you with seven unique and unexpected ways to cook with chocolat noir. Bon appétit!

Savoury delights

Dark chocolate isn’t just for desserts – it can be used to accentuate flavour and texture in a variety of savoury meals too. Here are three fantastic food ideas that feature dark chocolate for you to try.

Meat marinades and BBQ sauces 

Dark chocolate is delicious, sizzling meats are too, so why not combine both? Using chocolate in traditional barbecue sauces and marinades can add a smooth, deep flavour to your favourite finger-licking foods.

You can add dark chocolate to recipes that include spicy flavours, such as chilli, which works to add body, colour and depth to your dish and also helps balance out any acidity from tomatoes, if they feature in your dish.

There are a plethora of great ideas online for your next cook-up, so do check out your favourite recipe websites and search for dark chocolate marinades, chilli sauces and red wine chocolate glazes.��

Chocolate salad vinaigrette

Salad with a dark chocolate vinaigrette? Why not? Stone fruits and dark chocolate are truly a match made in heaven, so this vinaigrette is the perfect topping for any salad that incorporates cherries, peaches, plums and more.��

Best of all, it’s simple to make. Melt around 30g of dark chocolate until smooth, then pulse in a blender with one tablespoon each of red wine vinegar and olive oil until smooth. Drizzle over your salad and enjoy.

Dark chocolate meat pie

Believe it or not, adding dark chocolate can give a meat pie filling a much smoother texture and a richer flavour. If your pie also includes stout or ale, the addition of dark chocolate can also balance out the bitterness of the alcohol beautifully.��

There are many different types of pie you could enrich by adding dark chocolate to the filling – beef cheek and ale, beef and Guinness, venison and chilli or beef, chilli and chorizo.�� 

Generally speaking, you should aim to melt your dark chocolate into your pie liquid as a final step – after it has simmered and reduced down to around half and just before you combine it with your meat and set into a pie dish.��

Sweet treats

Dark chocolate has long been a dessert hero; from cakes to puddings, truffles to brownies, there’s no end to the ways this versatile ingredient can enhance a sweet treat. Here’s some ideas to get your tastebuds tingling.

Dark chocolate bread puddings 

Bread puddings are a classic family favourite and, best of all, easy to make! A traditional bread pudding is made up of milk/cream, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla and raisins but there are endless variations to be made – from the type of bread you choose to use (brioche, croissants, challah bread) to the spices you add (i.e. cinnamon, nutmeg).��

The addition of dark chocolate to a bread pudding contributes a tantalisingly rich flavour to its custard, which then soaks decadently into the bread and creates a drool-worthy, brownie-like dessert to savour.

Trail mix

This mix of nuts, dark chocolate and dried fruit can offer nutrients like antioxidants, fibre and healthy fats and is an excellent alternative to reaching for a chocolate bar or pastry at that mid-afternoon slump.��

For a cranberry and dark chocolate trail mix, all you need is 600g of dark chocolate cut up into small snack-size pieces, one-and-a-half cups of dried cranberries, same again of sliced almonds, a cup of raisins, a cup of chopped walnuts and half a cup of pistachios. Combine all ingredients, store in an airtight container and enjoy! 

There are so many different options when making your own trail mixes and we’ve chosen just one to suggest here. But be sure to let your creativity – and taste buds – guide you on what you might add to your version.

Sneaky vegetable and dark chocolate cakes

Adding vegetables to baked goods like cakes and muffins has been a sneaky way to up vegetable intake and make these treats healthier. From zucchini to pumpkin, beetroot to carrot and even rhubarb, vegetables provide cakes with natural moisture.

But not everyone is fooled by this clever vegie trick, so to appease those with an aversion to grated veg in their cakes, you can incorporate some dark chocolate to the mix to provide it with a rich, smooth flavour and texture.��

Add it to the cake itself or double up on the dark chocolate by adding it to your favourite icing recipe and apply once the cake has cooled.

Fiona Mair’s dark chocolate rocky road

When it comes to cooking with dark chocolate, it’s hard to beat rocky road. Here, ����Vlog home economist Fiona Mair shares her recipe for this classic treat with a tropical twist.

Ingredients:

• 200g dark chocolate, break into small pieces
• 200g marshmallows, cut into ¼
• ¼ cup shredded coconut
• ½ cup almonds, chopped
• ½ cup glacé fruit ( pineapple, mango, figs, ginger) chopped 

Method:

1. Place chocolate into a microwave safe bowl, melt on high for 1 minute (for 900–1000w models) stir well, heat at 30- second intervals until melted.��
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl, pour in chocolate. Mix well.
3. Press mixture into a tray 2-3cm thick.��
4. Refrigerate until firm and cut into squares.

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One of the great Australian favourites, Mint Slices have long held a special place in our nation’s collective heart. And if there’s anything better than a choc-mint biscuit, it’s a choc-mint biscuit that costs less than half the price of your favourite! We blind-tasted the original Arnott’s Mint Slice against Aldi’s Belmont Mint Crémes to see whether the Aldi version is as delicious as the original.��

And the winner is…

Arnott’s – but only just! The OG just pipped Aldi at the post, with 55.3% of the vote going to Arnott’s and 44.7% going to Aldi’s knock-off version.��

Many of our testers told us they couldn’t tell which one was the original, and most people said they definitely wouldn’t know the difference if someone were to give them an Aldi biscuit instead of an Arnott’s Mint Slice.��

• “I thought I’d know a Mint Slice, because my maths tutor used to give them to me with a cup of tea every week. But the first one I tried, I thought it was Aldi. But when I switched, I wasn’t as sure. It’s left me a bit perplexed.” – Siobahn
• “They are really hard to tell apart. I’m stumped. I’ve changed my mind several times on which one’s the original.” – Wendy
• “If someone just gave it to me and said, ‘here’s a Mint Slice’, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell.” – Saimi

That’s a much closer result than our Tim Tam challenge, in which 61% of our testers voted for the Arnott’s bikkie, compared to 39% for the Aldi version.��

Around two-thirds of our testers correctly identified which biscuit was the Arnott’s original Mint Slice, but since only 55% voted for the Arnott’s biscuit as their favourite, it’s safe to say that some people preferred the Aldi version even though they knew it wasn’t the Arnott’s bikkie.

• “I expected the Mint Slice to taste better, but it seems like the Aldi one was a fierce competitor and it actually got my vote. And I love Mint Slices. They’re my biscuit of choice. So I’m pretty shook right now, to be honest.” – Amy
• “I would be quite happy eating the Aldi one. In fact, I’d be inclined to buy the Aldi one over the Arnott’s one, just because it’s mintier.” – Wendy

And again, the Aldi mint creme biscuit is less than half the price of the Arnott’s Mint Slice (when paying full RRP), so the Aldi version is pretty good bang for your buck.

• “I think I’d put out the good ones first, and then once everyone’s gorged on those I’d put out the other ones. By then they won’t know.” – Jason

How did we do it?

Forty-seven brave ����Vlog staff put their tastebuds on the line in a blind taste-test. We asked them to taste both the biscuits, then vote for their favourite.��

We also played ‘Are they Arnott’s?’, asking testers to tell us which biscuit they thought was the original Mint Slice.��

• ����Vlog tip: fancy a cuppa with your bikkie? Check out the results of our black tea bag taste test for the ultimate cup of tea.

What were the results?

• 55.3% of ����Vlog taste-testers preferred the Arnott’s biscuit, based on taste
• 44.7% preferred the Aldi product
• 67.5% correctly identified the Arnott’s product
• 32.5% thought the Aldi product was the original Arnott’s product
• A number of testers said they’d happily buy the Aldi product

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If there’s one thing that really tickles our fancy here at ����Vlog, it’s finding cheaper products that perform as well as (or even outperform) big-name brands.��

We found it with the $89 Kmart espresso machine that held its own against a $900+ model, the Aldi ice cream that tied with the Connoisseur product costing more than twice as much, and the $49 Target food processor that outperformed leading brands. We love helping you get a great deal and save money.��

We also love chocolate. So we combined two of our favourite things into the taste test to end all taste tests: the Tim Tam challenge. We pitted Aldi’s knock-off version against the original Arnott’s bikkie to find out whether the impostor was a convincing enough fake.��

That’s right: we ate our way through a whole lot of chocolate biscuits in the name of empowering consumers. You’re welcome.��

And the winner is…

Okay, okay. We’ll put you out of your misery – no doubt the question of Aldi vs Arnott’s has been keeping you up at night.

Did the Aldi product take the biscuit? Well, no.

The Arnott’s bikkie took out 61% of the votes, and most of our testers could tell the difference between the two – so the Aldi product wasn’t so convincing that it evaded detection.

BUT (and it’s a big but) the Aldi version actually didn’t do too badly compared to the original – 39% of the vote is not to be sneezed at. And a number of our testers were duped by the impostor Tim Tam.

In short: we think Aldi’s product is not a bad buy. Just don’t expect it to be exactly the same as Arnott’s Tim Tams. And for less than half the price per biscuit, you can eat twice as many, right?

How did we do it?

Ranking chocolate biscuits is serious business. So we took a very ����Vlog-y approach to our testing.��

Seventy-five brave ����Vlog staff put their tastebuds on the line in a blind taste-test. We asked them to taste both the Arnott’s and Aldi biscuits, then vote for their favourite.��

As you can imagine, we really struggled to find volunteers.��

Then, in the interest of gathering more data (and eating more chocolate biscuits, naturally), we held a sub-challenge: the ‘Are they Arnott’s or are they not?’ challenge. We asked each taste tester to tell us which biscuit they thought was the original Tim Tam. Again, volunteers were hard to come by.��

And just for fun, we put our senior media advisor JB through a blind Tim Tam Slam challenge. We gave him one of each biscuit and asked him to chomp the ends off and slurp his tea through them. Strangely enough, he was more than happy to oblige.��

What were the results?

• 38.67% of ����Vlog taste testers preferred the Aldi biscuit.
• 61.33% of ����Vlog taste testers preferred the Arnott’s biscuit.
• 26.98% of ����Vlog taste testers thought the Aldi biscuit was the original Tim Tam.��
• 66.67% of ����Vlog taste testers correctly identified the Arnott’s Tim Tam.��
• 6.35% said they couldn’t tell which biscuit was which.��
• A number of testers said they’d happily buy the Aldi version.��
• Several testers correctly identified the Arnott’s biscuit, but voted the Aldi biscuit as their favourite.��

The Aldi biscuit was a favourite among testers who have less of a sweet tooth. It has less sugar but more sodium per biscuit compared to the Arnott’s biscuit, which might explain why.��

And JB preferred the Aldi biscuit for his Tim Tam Slam. Your results may vary – but hey, it’ll be fun testing it out!

Not surprisingly, the Tim Tam Challenge was one of the favourite in-house taste tests we’ve conducted recently – we’re already fielding demands for repeat tests.��

And our testers took the responsibility very seriously: people who correctly picked the original Tim Tam went home to brag to their families about their tasting prowess.��

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