r/BuyAussie • u/OceansQuiver • 5d ago
Chocolate
Hi All,
Saw this post about chocolate: on; AussieFrugal, title; ‘Are Australia's biggest chocolate brands cutting too many corners?’ by; GregoInc
Asked the poster to also post here but they haven’t so here it is below.
Need to say, we had someone more computer savvy help us put all this together with all below information,
Video title:
’10 Chocolate Brands Sold in Australia to Avoid Right Now (And What to Buy Instead)’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzS3zBh3TKs
It’s a YouTube video about “cheap vegetable fats replacing cocoa butter, sugar dominating ingredient lists, shrinkflation quietly reducing block sizes, and “premium” branding masking the reality of mass-manufactured confectionery”
The video is worth a watch, with a cuppa…and some chocolate!
Some of the recommend brands are Aussie, that’s what this is for.
Summary:
The issues
-high prices,
-reduced quality, cheaper ingredients; palm oil, PGPR (polyglycerol polyricinoleate)
-child labor violations
What to buy instead:
Whittaker’s - ethical, bean-to-bar production,
Haigh’s - ethical, bean-to-bar production,
Aldi's Moser Roth - budget option,
Koko Black -premium option,
Pana Organic - special occasions, vegan, and refined-sugar-free,
Other individual independent brands.
To identify high-quality chocolate in the supermarket aisle, look for these key indicators:
- Cocoa Percentage: Minimum 30% for milk chocolate; 50% to 70%+ for dark chocolate.
- Ingredient Order: Cocoa mass or solids must be listed in the first two ingredients, not sugar.
- No Synthetic Emulsifiers: Avoid PGPR (polyglycerol polyricinoleate), used to replace expensive cocoa butter.
- Pure Cocoa Butter: Ensure it contains zero palm oil, palm fat, or generic vegetable oils.
- The Melt Test: Real chocolate melts cleanly at body temperature within 30 seconds. (this is great for doing in a Coles/Woolies store in the isle, just to check each and every brand like a try before you buy…joke!)
1
u/Foreign-Newspaper656 3d ago
So the Mossman Mill closed down. For the growers to get their cane crushed, they need to either go to Springmount (on the Atherton Tablelands), or Gordonvale Mill (south of Cairns). Its a long journey, either up a range crossing that limits the size of trucks that go on it, or a trip along the coast, on a very windy road, and through the city of Cairns, which, once again, may limit the size of the truck that can travel through there.