Keto Friendly, Nut Chocolate Spread – With Easter fast approaching all things chocolaty will be high on our shopping list priorities. As traditional and indulgent as it may be, not everyone is suited to the rich ingredient list many chocolate products can contain.
Unless you are an avid ingredient list checker (personally, I am not) you may be unwise as to what your favourite treats contain!
To take the ease out of making unhealthy choices, Women Talking has found Yummzy, a dessert and cake baking operation based in London, delivering a variety of small batch, artisanal offerings that adhere to an array of strict dietary principles: low carb/high protein, gluten and sugar-free, vegan-friendly recipes that give equal consideration to amazing taste and good nutrition.
The predominantly B2C business which operates both within the M25 and nationwide was born because of the very intransigent dietary restrictions that Yummzy’s co-founder, Jolie Gindi faced herself as someone living with type 1 diabetes.
‘As someone with a sweet tooth who was always on the lookout for a sublime sugar-free treat, I was constantly disappointed to discover that my so-called diabetic-savvy choices were awash with fructose, honey, dates, maltitol, coconut sugar, or any other number of alternative sugars that would either quickly transform into glucose within the body or negatively affect my gut.’
Although growing numbers of low-carb/keto-friendly cakes are starting to make their presence felt in the UK, a lion’s share is weighed down by inferior ingredients or bland, forgettable flavours. Worse still many keto cakes contain wheat, yeast, vegetable oil, unwelcome preservatives, or even dairy within them, which can have unwelcome inflammatory side effects, which means they simply can’t be considered keto-friendly or good for you long-term.
In its first incarnation (2018), Yummzy was a popular London café with a cult following that appealed to everyone from nutritionists and health-conscious footballers, to mums and dads seeking clean eating for their kids, to the odd health-conscious celebrity, kids tracking down a deserved tasty, after-school treat: brownies, donuts, muffins, teasecakes, biscotti, cupcakes and cake slices that tides them over to tea time. There was even a regular procession of bodybuilders and ardent gym fanatics who craved a little sweetness in their lives on the proviso that it wouldn’t undermine their longer-term health goals.
In 2019 Yummzy eatery was voted in the top 10% of places to eat in the world
As time grew the café metamorphosed into a fine cake online operation; even securing coverage in high-profile titles like Men’s Health.
The bustling treats-themed business then diversified yet again by launching Yummtella, a sugar-free, clean-deck chocolate hazelnut spread that uses single estate chocolate from Latin America in addition to generous volumes of hazelnuts (60%) and natural sweeteners (stevia & erythritol) with absolutely NO lazy bulkers, sweeteners, palm oil or ‘sugar by the back door’ maltitol.
‘In the blink-of-an-eye, Yummtella became our best seller,’ continued Jolie, ‘which is why at the beginning of 2023 we rebranded our jars to reflect their best-in-class disposition.’
In an age when healthier living is increasingly front of mind and the fallout from sugar is increasingly understood Yummtella sees itself, not so much as a chocolate spread or nut butter but as an indulgent, low fodmap superfood whose appeal encompasses foodies and breakfast purists vegans, diabetics, coeliacs, ketogenic acolytes and epilepsy sufferers.
Poppy Watt