Evolve Your Chocolate | Evolved (Virtual Organic Week 2020)
Wrapping up Organic Week in the sweetest way possible. Yesterday's post we were rebellious with REBBL and today we talk chocolate with Evolved! What a lovely company with the kindest cofounders, possible! We have loved their chocolate for about 5-ish years now and I know we will love them forever. What a fun week to talk about so many of my favorite organic brands and I saved the sweetest for last!
Last year, around this time, I was in Washington D.C. with the Organic Trade Association (OTA) as one of their influencers who "hit The Hill" to lobby for the future of the Organic industry and, more specifically, the Farm Bill. Organic Week D.C. is an amazing week organized by the OTA. Organic businesses travel to D.C. to hit The Hill and meet with key members of Congress! When you support the ORGANIC industry, you are supporting organic brands and organic farmers that believe in the health and wellness of your family. Did you know that there are 700 chemicals that are prohibited in organic farming, yet 3000 chemicals are allowed in conventional farming as opposed to 67 that are allowed in organic. Organic producers, farmers and brands are committed to making healthy food safe and available to all Americans! Read more about that trip HERE.
Check out a wrap up video of last year's Organic Week D.C.
This year, things were moved to a virtual "Organic Week D.C.", so I decided to do my own version of a Virtual Organic Week! I'm sharing some of my favorite USDA Organic brands with you each day on social media and here on KrystensKitchen.com, as well as sharing some Q + As which each brand. Follow along on Instagram, too!
Evolved makes a variety of chocolatey products that are organic, paleo (all but the Oatmeal Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie Dough filled bar), plant based, vegan, soy free, gluten free, and dairy free also made on equipment that is GF, DF, and SF. Everything is sweetened with organic coconut sugar that is sustainable and does not contribute to deforestation. They are so passionate about using natural, organic, and nutrient-dense ingredients in all of their products.
They have chocolate bars, filled chocolate bars, keto bars, keto cups, coconut butter and more. You can even customize your own chocolate bars, too! How cool is that? While I haven't met a product of theirs that I haven't loved wholeheartedly, my most favorites are the Cashew Milk Chocolate Bar, Sweet & Salty Roasted Coconut Butter, the filled chocolate bars and the Keto Hazelnut Butter Cups! Yum!
I am so grateful to Christine & Rick (co-founders), for taking the time to do this Q+A with me all bout their incredible brand and community that they have created! But first I must start with this love letter to the Evolved Family.
Dear Rick & Christine,
Thank you for making super delicious chocolatey things and for being Organic! I love you.
Love,
one of the O.G. Monkey Troop members & chocolate lovers,
Krysten
PS - thank you for being a part of my Virtual Organic Week. You rock!
Why did you start your company/ Why did the company start? Rick and I started the company back in 2011. We were both eating a paleo, whole foods diet and found it difficult to find clean desserts that were made with organic ingredients and free of gluten, dairy, soy, and refined sugar. We actually started as an organic chocolate truffle company but "evolved" into what we are today!
Why is creating organic products important to your company? We hold our products to the highest of standards. It's not an option for us to compromise on ingredient quality. Eating foods with organic ingredients is not only better for your body but better for the environment.
What do you wish consumers understood about organic ingredients/sourcing organic ingredients? Pesticide use is rampant in the cacao industry so it's definitely more difficult to source organic certified raw materials. While being organic certified limits our supply chain, it is 100% worth it for us to have the highest quality ingredients.
Do you have any advice for other brands or consumers about why they should choose organic products and support the organic industry? If you're trying to figure out if it's worth it to become organic certified, I'd say yes! While it takes extra effort and resources to become certified our customers truly appreciate knowing they can trust our ingredients.
Is there anything else you'd like to share about your brand/products/upcoming product launches? Join our Monkey Troop! It's our facebook group made up of chocolate lovers and like minded people who appreciate clean eating.
We're always doing fun things for the Troop like sending out a lot of free chocolate and they're always the first to know about new product :) JOIN HERE!
Where can people buy your products? Online at eatingevolved.com as well as Whole Foods, Wegmans, HEB, Ralphs, and other natural food stores.
Try this! Chop up one of their keto cups or bars and mix it into your favorite ice cream. This will surely take your sweet treat to the next level! I used the Keto Hazelnut Butter Cups for this! YUM!
