THE PROTEGO FOUNDATION
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Our Views
    • Trans Solidarity
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Blog
    • Latest
    • How to Help Animals
    • Magical Recipes
    • Empathetic Alley
    • Community News
    • Wizarding Features
  • Guides
    • The Wizarding Guide to Going Vegan
    • WB Tour Hollywood
    • HP Photographic Exhibition
  • Campaigns
    • Wizards of Baking: Vegan Cake Challenge
    • Release the Reins
    • Defend the Dire Wolves
    • Accio Vegan Butterbeer
    • Wizards for Environmental Protection
  • Programs
    • ProtegoCast
    • Book Club
    • Events
    • Owl Resource Page
  • Get Involved
    • Become A Member
    • Action Center
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Join Our Discord
    • Volunteer
  • Fundraiser
  • Store
  • Donate

The Wizards Magic Plant-Based Chocolate

7/21/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
James and Oliver Phelps, the British actors who brought the mischief-making prankster twins Fred and George Weasley to life on screen in the Harry Potter franchise have returned to the wizarding world. . . but not in the way you’d expect. 

The brothers, like their red-headed film characters, are now also trying their hand at entrepreneurship! They’ve concocted a line of chocolates, appropriately named The Wizards Magic, that may well have been ripped straight off of the Hogwarts Express trolley. 

At first glance, these treats are what Luna Lovegood might call “exceptionally ordinary.”

But unlike their wizarding world counterparts, which are often full of milk, cream, and other dairy products, the new plant-based line of The Wizards Magic chocolate is all vegan!  With flavors that include Vanilla, Mint, and Orange, along with the classic Chocolate, there are options for every sweet tooth.

​
Every bar in the plant-based The Wizards Magic line is dietary-conscious and eco-friendly.  Each bar has just 1% sugar, is gluten-free, is dairy-free, and contains no rainforest-destroying palm oil. Promising bean-to-bar transparency, all of the cocoa and cacao used is ethically sourced and fairly traded from a collective in West Africa. On top of that, the paper packaging is 100% recyclable, biodegradable, and compostable. 

In 2019, the vegan line of this British chocolate debuted to much fanfare across the pond. Now they’ve winged their way to the US in the (owl-free) post and landed right on The Protego Foundation’s doorstep! 

We had the opportunity to try these compassionately-crafted chocolates to see if they’re worth all the hype.  Our own Head Writer and Blog Coordinator, Victoria, and Marketing Director, Valerie, were the lucky witches who unwrapped these bars for a taste test. 

Will The Wizards Magic become as beloved as Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes? Let’s see what Victoria and Valerie had to say!

​
Picture

Picture
Flavor #1: Original (60% cocoa)

Ingredients: Cocoa Solids (Cocoa Butter and Cocoa Powder), Sweetener (Isomalt), Inulin (plant-based fiber). 

Upon opening the wrapper, this chocolate looks just like one of the classic milk chocolate bars we used to love as kids. Pressed into tiny squares, we snapped one of them off and took a bite. At first, the chocolate was creamy and smooth. . . but within seconds, a bitter and sharp undertone came out.

From the labeling, The Wizards Magic is going for a “health food” approach. Bold lettering mentions its fiber content, and instead of using any cane sugar, the bars use a sugar alcohol substitute. This combination makes for a bitter-tasting chocolate that doesn’t entirely satisfy every chocolate-lovers’ sweet tooth (especially if they’re fans of milk-stye chocolate).

​

Picture
Flavor #2: Vanilla (40% cocoa)

Ingredients: Sugar, Cacao Butter, Rice Milk Powder (Rice syrup, Rich starch, Rice flour), Cacao Nibs, Oats (Gluten-free), Creamed Coconut, Roasted Buckwheat, Natural Flavourings, Essential Oils. 

When we popped this chocolate out of its eco-friendly box, we were faced with large squares of chocolate stamped with the The Wizards Magic logo. It definitely adds a whimsical touch to the bar! Biting into this bar started off as a much more pleasant experience than the Original Chocolate.

​The vanilla is unmistakable, which, as vanilla lovers, we really appreciated. However, some of the vanilla flavor seems to get canceled out by the bar’s bold
buckwheat aftertaste. The earthiness and bitterness takes away from the vanilla and reduces the bar’s overall sweetness. For Valerie, this was her favorite bar out of the bunch!


​

Picture
Picture
Flavor #3: Orange (60% cocoa) 

Ingredients: Cocoa Solids (Cocoa Butter and Cocoa Powder), Sweetener (Isomalt), Inulin (plant-based fiber), Essential Oils.

We’ll preface this by saying that these witches are not fans of citrus chocolates. We always dreaded being gifted one of those gold foil-wrapped chocolate oranges around the holidays. That being said, we squared our shoulders, took a deep breath, and took a nibble.

​The bright, zesty orange flavor instantly came through, and it didn’t have a super strong aftertaste. It is, however, very bitter. If you’re not a fan of tangy orange or very dark and bitter chocolates, you might want to pass on this one. In the end, we were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed it.


​

Picture
Flavor #4: Mint (60% cocoa)  

Ingredients: Sugar, Cacao Butter, Rice Milk Powder (Rice syrup, Rich starch, Rice flour), Cacao Nibs, Oats (Gluten-free), Creamed Coconut, Roasted Buckwheat, Natural Flavourings, Essential Oils. 

There’s a fine line between pleasantly refreshing and essence-of-toothpaste when it comes to crafting mint chocolate confections (and we don’t mean in a cute Amortentia way). The minty element in this bar is subtle, but it seems to block out all traces of chocolatey flavor. Instead, the buckwheat dominates this bar with its bitter and earthy taste.

​We can’t help but wonder if the non-vegan lines of chocolate by the company also lack the creamy taste and consistency that we desire from a chocolate bar. Due to the fact that this bar hardly tasted like chocolate at all, it was our least favorite.

Final Thoughts: 

In O.W.L. terms, The Wizards Magic definitely gets an O (Outstanding) for their eco-friendly packaging and plant-based and fairly-traded ingredients.

As much as we wanted to really love the flavors of this plant-based line of chocolate, and as glad as we are to see an addition to the vegan chocolate canon, The Wizards Magic doesn’t quite live up to the spellbinding flavors it promises to give us. 

We’ve got our wands crossed that The Wizards Magic will continue to produce vegan chocolate, perhaps with some new-and-improved recipes. We at The Protego Foundation praise The Wizards Magic for being inclusive to the vegan community! If you’ve tried these bars, let us know what you thought of them in the comments!

​
Written by Victoria Tomis and Valerie Short
Picture

Accio More Articles:

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

Picture
HOME
FINANCIALS
CONTACT
ABOUT
DONATE
LEGAL
PRESS
JOIN
FAQ
The Protego Foundation's work is made possible, in part, thanks to Tylor Starr.


The Protego Foundation and its activities are not licensed by, sponsored by or associated with Warner Bros., J.K. Rowling, or their affiliates. 'Wizarding World,' 'Harry Potter,' ‘Fantastic Beasts' and all related names, characters and indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. - Harry Potter publishing rights © J.K. Rowling.

​
FEIN 83-3531129



  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Our Views
    • Trans Solidarity
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Blog
    • Latest
    • How to Help Animals
    • Magical Recipes
    • Empathetic Alley
    • Community News
    • Wizarding Features
  • Guides
    • The Wizarding Guide to Going Vegan
    • WB Tour Hollywood
    • HP Photographic Exhibition
  • Campaigns
    • Wizards of Baking: Vegan Cake Challenge
    • Release the Reins
    • Defend the Dire Wolves
    • Accio Vegan Butterbeer
    • Wizards for Environmental Protection
  • Programs
    • ProtegoCast
    • Book Club
    • Events
    • Owl Resource Page
  • Get Involved
    • Become A Member
    • Action Center
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Join Our Discord
    • Volunteer
  • Fundraiser
  • Store
  • Donate