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Buddee Chocolate Spread | Chewsday Review

Today’s Chewsday review features the Buddee Chocolate Spread. A chocolate spread that’s allergy-friendly, free from peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, gluten and soy. So, what are they made ‘choc full’ of? Let’s take a closer look…

Ingredients

Chickpea, Sugar, Canola Oil, Cacao Powder (4%), Natural Flavours, Emulsifier (Sunflower Lecithin), Himalayan Pink Salt.
Impressive to see chickpeas are the first ingredient in this spread, meaning the ingredient in the highest amount. These versatile legumes are rich in protein and fibre.
I’m anticipating that this spread will be high in added sugar given that it’s listed second in the ingredient list.
Allergens: None.

Positives

Allergen friendly: manufactured in an allergen-free, purpose-built facility to make it free from the common food allergens (cow’s milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, sesame, soy, fish, shellfish, and wheat). This makes it a great option for kiddos with allergies.
As expected for a sweet product, Buddee Chocolate Spread is low in sodium (76mg per 100g), meeting our target of less than 200mg per 100g. Due to the added sea salt, this is slightly higher than Nutella (42 mg per 100g) and VGood Hazel-NOT chocolate spread (11mg per 100g).
Low in saturated fat (2g per 100g). Most other chocolate spreads range between 5-11g of saturated fat per 100g.
The chickpeas in this spread give it a higher protein content (12.7g per 100g) compared to other chocolate spreads like Nutella (6.3g per 100g).

Negatives

At 34.9g per 100g, the sugar content of Buddee Chocolate Spread is lower than Nutella (56.3g per 100g) or Woolworths Choc Hazelnut Spread (53.9g per 100g), but still well above guidelines.
Total fat is two times greater than healthy guidelines at 21.1g per 100g. I’m not too concerned about this as it comes mostly from the canola oil and the saturated fat is within recommendations (2.0g per 100g). Canola oil is a monounsaturated fat like olive oil.
The price ($24/kg) is much higher than Nutella ($14.25/kg) or Woolworths ($6/kg), but similar to other specialty allergy products.

Marketing

“Hey, I’m school safe (nut free). I’m free from peanuts, tree nuts, gluten, dairy, preservatives.” Great to see a chocolate spread alternative that doesn’t contain common allergens so people with allergies can also enjoy them.
“And insanely delicious!” Chocolate flavoured products are a favourite for lots of kiddos, but I’m yet to taste this one myself.
Interesting that the fibre content isn’t listed, as I’d expect this to be higher than a standard chocolate spread due to the chickpeas.

Alternatives

Overall, I wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase this as a ‘healthier’ chocolate spread. There’s room for all foods, so in the absence of a food allergy, it’s fine to choose the chocolate spread your family enjoys the most for when you choose to offer it.
The allergen-free, chocolate spread market is quite limited, so if your child is allergic to one or more of the common food allergens, then this is a reasonable option. The only other chocolate spread free from the common allergens I could find was the VGood Hazel-NOT choc spread. This has a lower sugar (22.3g per 100g) and sodium (11mg per 100g) content but is higher in saturated fat (6.3 mg per 100g).
If your child is not allergic to peanuts, tree nuts or sesame seeds then the Mayver’s Cacao Natural Super Spread is another delicious chocolatey spread that’s similar in protein content and lower in sodium than the Buddee chocolate spread. It also has no added sugar so I’d prefer this for a regular inclusion.