Here are some plant-based replacements for meat, sauces and chocolate.
Heirloom beans
Bean-based dishes can play a key role in a vegan diet, since they are filling and protein-rich. Rancho Gordo has a line of more than two dozen dried heirloom beans in a variety of shapes, colors and flavors. We sampled three varieties: velvety, dense cranberry beans speckled with magenta flecks; creamy Italian marcella (a thin-skinned cannellini variety); and rio zape, similar to pintos, but with hints of chocolate and coffee.
$6.25 to $7.50 per 1-pound bag. Available at ranchogordo.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Plant-based sauce
It’s hard to imagine any meal, vegan or otherwise, that wouldn’t be enhanced by Pickapeppa sauce. The recipe was created a century ago, combining influences from many cultures that settled in Jamaica. It’s entirely plant-based, a combination of tomatoes, onions, sugar, cane vinegar, mangoes, raisins, peppers and spices. The sauce still is made in Jamaica and aged in oak barrels for one year. The original brown sauce is widely available, but we also sampled the other three flavors: spicy mango, hot mango and gingery mango. They have varying levels of heat, but even the hot version isn’t overwhelming, and the original brown sauce is mild enough for any palate.
$4.50 per 5-ounce bottle, $18 per pack of 5-ounce bottles in four flavors. The original sauce is available at Kroger, Publix, Popshelf, Cost Plus World Market and select Whole Foods Markets. Other flavors are available at pickapeppa.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Vegan chocolate bark
Scharffen Berger claims to be America’s first bean-to-bar chocolate maker. Its Breaks line of vegan chocolate barks is made with 43% oat milk chocolate and coconut sugar. The barks come in four varieties: salted almonds, coconut and quinoa, salted sunflower seeds and gluten-free pretzels. Friends who tried it said this was the creamiest vegan chocolate they’d ever had, and the coconut and quinoa was a favorite. We loved that these barks have just the right amount of crunch to complement the creamy chocolate.
$5.99 per 4.5-ounce package. Available at Amazon and scharffenberger.com.
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