British chocolatier Hotel Chocolat is releasing chocolate-covered ice lollies just in time for warmer weather.
The Instagram page Vegan_Food_UK shared a photo of the forthcoming treats. According to The Grocer, the Double Chocolat Ice Lolly and Orange Ice Lolly are dairy-free.
Dairy-Free Frozen Desserts
The market for dairy-free frozen treats has been steadily increasing in recent years. Demand for dairy-free options is pushing the A growing number of mainstream brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Halo Top, Häagen Dazs, and Magnum have all released dairy-free options in the past year.
Global sales of dairy-free ice cream are expected to surpass $1 billion by 2024, according to research by Global Market Insights.
Hotel Chocolat’s Vegan Options
The frozen treats come after the retailer released vegan chocolate bunnies and eggs for the Easter holiday. “This Easter we’ve hopped skipped and jumped into the world of free-from chocolate. These dairy-, gluten-, nut- and wheat-free Easter bunnies – which also happen to be vegan – are smooth and mellow, made with 45 percent cocoa so they taste just as good as our milk chocolate.”
Last Christmas, the chocolatier released a range that included Salted Caramel Vodka and Chocolate Vegan Christmas Pudding. Hotel Chocolat also features a number of other dairy-free items.
Hotel Chocolat is the UK’s only chocolatier with its own cocoa plantations in St. Lucia, in the heart of the cocoa belt. It was founded by Angus Thirlwell, heir to the Mr. Whippy ice cream truck empire.
According to Thirlwell, his vision for the brand, which opened its first shop in 2004, was trying to come up with something that “expressed the power that chocolate has to lift you out of your current mood and take you to a better place.”
The company-operated estate includes more than a dozen cortès or areas of terroir, which impart unique flavors into the cacao. “We want consumers to be having the same debate about the flavours of different cocoa beans as wine,” Thirlwell told the BBC.
Hotel Chocolat’s Engaged Ethics Cocoa Programme has helped bring more than 100 jobs to the region and pays a premium price 30-40 percent higher than the world market cocoa price.
The new lollies will be available this summer at Hotel Chocolat’s more than seventy shops throughout the UK.
