We are now pleased to offer two new flavors of our Sugar Free bars.

Lucienne's Sugar Free Chocolate Bars

• Orange Sugar Free Chocolate with Stevia – flavored with 100% natural Orange Oil
• Mint Sugar Free Chocolate with Stevia – flavored with 100% natural Peppermint Oil

These new chocolate bars use the same high quality and delicious chocolate, made sugar-free with Stevia. All out sugar-free bars all all-natural, with no artificial ingredients. They are also soy-free and gluten-free.

Visit our Sugar-Free and Gluten-Free page to view all our products for restricted diets.

Most chocolate contains Soy Lecithin, which helps to manage the flow of chocolate during the molding process, and aids in stabilizing the chocolate by keeping the cocoa solids and cocoa butter from separating. Soy Lecithin is quite natural and is generally good for you (see What’s Soy Lecithin Doing in My Chocolate). That all changes if you have a soy allergy.

We try to be accommodating to people with dietary restrictions. As a result, we offer Sugar Free chocolate, both as an unsweetened 100% Dark bar and as an 85% bar sweetened with stevia. Both of these bars are also soy free. Now, we are adding a 75% dark bar, which is made with cane sugar, and contains no Soy Lecithin.

The 75% Dark Bar is made from the same cocoa as our standard 70% Dark Chocolate, but with a little less sugar and with no Soy Lecithin. The richer cocoa mix provides a more stable chocolate without the lecithin. It also gives a stronger flavor.

At Lucienne’s, we want to provide the best tasting chocolate possible, regardless of dietary limitations. Our new 75% Dark Bar is a great tasting chocolate, made from our special Ecuadorian cocoa, grown on Rainforest Certified™ farms and delivered directly to our processor where it is roasted and processed in small batches to extract the absolute best chocolate possible.

Our 75% Dark Chocolate bar is available on our website at Soy Free Dark Chocolate Bar.

Don’t settle for a re-wrapped, plain chocolate bar. Lucienne’s Ithaca Chocolate Bars are high quality, delicious chocolates, available in a variety of enticing flavors. With your name on the cover, be sure that the chocolate found within will provide a pleasurable and memorable experience.

Visit our Chocolate Business Cards page on our Ithaca Chocolates web site for more details. Our team of expert graphic artists and chocolatiers are ready to create your custom bars.

There are three common stevia sweeteners on the market:

SweetLeaf: Advertised as a fully natural stevia preparation, this is probably the stevia closest to the plant. As a result, it may be favored by those looking for an “all natural” sweetener. This seems to come at a cost in taste, as SweetLeaf presents a bitter aftertaste.

SweetLeaf is made by Wisdom Natural Brands of Gilbert, AZ. The SweetLeaf Stevia product is classified as “Generally Recognized As Safe” by the FDA[1].

Truvia: contains Erythritol and Rebiana.

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol, made by fermenting glucose with the yeast Moniliella pollinis [2]. Unlike some sugar alcohols, erythritol is absorbed by the body and is therefore unlikely to cause digesting problems[3].

Rebiana is the common name for rebaudioside A (or Reb A), the chemical extracted from the stevia leaf for sweetness[4].

Truvia is made by Cargill[5]. They are associated with the Coca Cola Co.

Pure Via:

Pure Via is a product of Whole Earth Sweetener Co., of South Bend, Indiana. They are partners with PepsiCo[6].

Pure Via contains dextrose, Reb A, Cellulose Powder and Natural flavors[7].

Whole Earth Sweetener Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Merisant Company, the maker of Equal® and Canderel®[8].

References

[1] FDA/CFSAN: Agency Response Letter: GRAS Notice No. GRN 000287
[2] FDA/CFSAN: Agency Response Letter: GRAS Notice No. GRN 000076
[3] Erythritol: an interpretive summary of biochemical, metabolic, toxicological and clinical data.
Munro IC, Berndt WO, Borzelleca JF, Flamm G, Lynch BS, Kennepohl E, Bär EA, Modderman J.
[4] Stevia and Rebiana: Facts and Myths
[5] Turvia web site – Corporate Responsibility
[6] Pure Via web page – Contact
[7] Pure Via web page – Our Products
[8] PEPSICO AND WHOLE EARTH SWEETENER COMPANY INTRODUCE ALL-NATURAL, ZERO-CALORIE SWEETENER PUREVIA™

I was surprised that he was not aware of this, as I had thought the information on our website pointed this out sufficiently. Apparently, however, I was wrong. After reviewing again our website, I concluded he was correct; the information was not nearly as obvious as it should be.

Dairy Free

We did not set out to make special needs products, but we have some just the same. As I said, most of our Biscotti is dairy free. Only our Citrus Magic, which contains White Chocolate, is not Dairy Free. While most Biscotti is made with butter, we choose to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Why? Primarily because we like the way it tastes. Also, it is good for you.

Gluten Free

We also have many Gluten Free products. Sorry, not the Biscotti. But our Nut Cookies are both Gluten Free and Dairy Free.

All our chocolates are Gluten Free and most are Dairy Free as well. We like Dark Chocolate, so that is just natural for us. In fact, our Dark Chocolates are suitable for Vegan diets, containing no animal derived ingredients.

Low Glycemic Index and Sugar Free

Stevia Plant

We also now offer 100% Chocolate which is fully Sugar Free. It is available both

unsweetened and lightly sweetened with Stevia, a mint plant that is naturally sweet.  Both with Low Glycemic Index.

Our Oats to Go Biscotti is made with honey rather than with sugar. It does have some sugar in the dried cherries and chocolate we add in, so we do not mark it as Sugar Free.

Nut Free

We have many Nut Free products, suitable for people with tree nut allergies. We do use almonds, pistachio, hazelnuts and walnuts in many products and although we take pains to insure that these nuts do not cross over into our Nut Free products, there is always a slight chance of some trace of tree nuts in the Nut Free products.

Our Black Forest Biscotti has no nuts, but it is flavored with Organic Almond Extract. Because of this, we don’t mark it as nut free, but it may be suitable for some people with nut allergies, if they are good with processed nut products.

None of our products contain peanuts, and we do not allow peanuts in our kitchen at all.

New Easy to See Dietary Symbols

As my friend pointed out, we need to make this more obvious on our website. I thought it best to find broadly used symbols for these various dietary features. But I did not find any. It seems most companies have just made up their own. So, I did the same.

Now, each product listing on our web site will include these icons to indicate which features apply.

Nut Free
Dairy Free
Gluten Free
Vegan
Low Glycemic Index
Sugar Free

I’d love to hear your feedback on these symbols. Especially if you know of standard symbols I could be using.

If you have other dietary concerns about our products, please contact us.

Lucienne's Chocolate Bars

How is Raw Chocolate Better?

According to “Good Chocolate Karma”, raw chocolate has 1/3rd more antioxidants than regular chocolates. Cocoa is high in compounds called phenolic phytochemicals, or flavonoids, indicating the presence of known antioxidants that can stave off cancer, heart disease and other ailments. These flavonoids and antioxidants are also found in green tea and read wine, but they are in higher concentrations in cocoa.

Some people have argued that there is no “raw chocolate”. All chocolate, in order to taste like chocolate, is going to be heated to cooking temperatures at some point (See In Reply to: Naked Chocolate). During fermantation, for example, the temperature inside the seed will reach between 104°F to 122°F (see The Microbiology of Chocolate). Since the fermentation temperature is inside the seed pod, it cannot be well controlled.

What happens to the Antioxidants in regular chocolate?

The flavonoids and antioxidants can break down when heated. Much of the loss in antioxidants occurs when the beans are fermented. The fermenting beans will typically reach temperatures of over 120°F. Some additional loss occurs during roasting.

Raw chocolate is made with a very short fermentation time, typically about 15% of the time normally used. Raw chocolate is also roasted at lower temperatures; less than 105°F instead of up to 300°F. The result of this processing is a cocoa that has more of its antioxidants intact.

Sounds good. So why aren’t more chocolates made using raw chocolate?

Taste.  Raw chocolate does not taste like the chocolate we have come to love. Cocoa is a bitter bean, and we make it taste heavenly by fermenting it and roasting it. Raw cocoa is also higher in cocoa butter than regular cocoa, due to the lack of full fermentation and roasting; the cocoa butter is not “cooked out”.

And what about Lucienne’s Chocolate?

Lucienne’s uses the finest chocolate available. Our chocolate producer works directly with the growers. Fermentation times are watched closely, and fermentation is halted when the beans have reach their optimal state. By closely monitoring the fermentation and halting it, our beans are not subject to excessive heat and fermentation that would further damage the flavonoids.

The beans are sorted and sized. As we enter roasting, all beans are of similar size. This allows us to control our roast time, as all beans will be properly roasted at the same time. Our beans are roasted slowly, to better preserve the antioxidants. They are processed in small batches, to further control the process.

In larger factory operations, beans with wide variations in size are roasted together. Since small beans will roast faster than large beans, the roast time is extended to insure full roasting of all the larger beans. This also means over-roasting the smaller beans. The large roasters work at fairly high temperatures, which degrades the antioxidants further.

The end result is that Lucienne’s chocolate will retain as much of the antioxidants as possible, while delivering a chocolate flavor that is satisfying.

But what about the fat?

One possible downside to eating chocolate bars for the flavonoids and antioxidants  is the fat present. But, there are good fats and bad fats. Cocoa butter is comprised of about 39% “good” fats (mono-saturated and polyunsaturated) and 71% saturated fats. Of the saturated fats, over half is in the form of stearic acid, which is known to be “neutral” in terms of cholesterol. Studies have shown no impact on blood cholesterol from eating chocolate.

Lucienne's 100% Dark Chocolate Bar

Lucienne’s chocolate has a higher cocoa solid content that most factory chocolates. Our controlled process reduces the bitter flavors that require added cocoa butter and vanilla flavors for masking. We therefore have a lower glycemic index, and lower fat content.

If you want to eliminate the fat and sugar content, but still desire a clean chocolate flavor, we also offer a 100% Dark Chocolate bar. This is made with cocoa solids only. There is no added sugar, and no additional cocoa butter.

Lucienne's Chocolate Bars

Lucienne’s Chocolate Bars

All Lucienne’s Chocolate Bars are hand made from 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified™ cocoa products. We use all natural ingredients. Please visit our Chocolate Bars page to choose from our assortment of Dark Chocolate and Dark Milk Chocolate Bars.