Product Review: Giddy Yoyo!

Well, Hey Everyone!

This is an exciting day, because I get to do my very first product review!! The good people at Giddy Yoyo were kind enough to send me some of their delicious products! Giddy Yoyo specializes in making raw, organic, fair trade, vegan dark chocolate that is "Free of Dairy, Gluten, Soy, Nuts, Refined Sugar and other Nasty Funk!" They also sell superfoods and select body care products.

Plus, how can you not love a company with a name like "Giddy Yoyo"? Say that 5 times in a row and see if it doesn't make you a little happier :)

Since I absolutely ADORE dark chocolate, I couldn't wait to dive into my goody bag!

I'll start off by saying that this chocolate is very smooth. I haven't had much raw chocolate in my life, but the lack of processing definitely doesn't take away from the silkiness. It is also intensely dark and not too sweet, which I like. I always crave a piece of dark chocolate after dinner, and this stuff totally hits the spot. Whenever I eat milk chocolate or really sweet chocolate, it just leaves me craving more and more. I have always been the type of person who resembles some kind of ravenous, chocolate-starved monster when I get the taste of it my mouth, so I was a little worried about having so much of it in the house.

Note to self: Raw dark chocolate = cravings satisfied.

When I looked at all of the products, the 82% cacao Vanilla Bean and Salt jumped out at me as the dead-ringer for my favourite. I love anything vanilla and I really like the sea salt dark chocolates I have had before, so I knew the combination of the two would be unreal. This was also the darkest of the bunch, so I knew I would like that.

The vanilla flavour could have been a little bit stronger, but the salt made up for it. Right at the end as you are enjoying the subtle vanilla, you get that little salty kick that balances out the sweet. If you have a craving and can't decide if it's for salty or sweet, you've found your cure ;)

The ingredients also make me very happy. Look at those! All from the goodness of Mother Earth :)

I wanted to try the Original 76% cacao next to compare it to the first.

I think I liked this one even more! It was just simple, dark, smooth and had a rich cacao flavour. The vanilla salt flavour is delicious, but a little more unusual, so if you just like your chocolate straight-up dark, I would choose this over its more processed counterparts.

I was nervous and excited to try the next one: Spicy 76% cacao.

While I am a spicy food addict, I never really jumped on the spicy chocolate bandwagon. Cayenne and chocolate? It just doesn't do it for me.

But this chocolate blew me out of the water!! The cayenne kick was mild, the cacao taste was as rich and smooth as the other bars and it had this AMAZING cinnamon flavour! All together, it was phenomenal and totally addictive. Cinnamon lovers, this is your kryptonite. I almost wanted to go back for more immediately, but like I said, this is pretty satisfying stuff ;)

The last of the chocolate that I tried was the 70% cacao Banana Nutmeg. It had just the right strength of  nutmeg flavour and little chewy banana bits in it. The banana added a nice sweetness and it was totally different from the other varieties. It wasn't my favourite, but after that spicy cinnamon chocolate, it's a pretty tough contest.

All in all, amazing chocolate. Fair trade, minimally processed, good for the world, good for the soul. I can approve. If I had to rank my favourites, I would give Spicy first place, Original second, Vanilla Bean and Salt third and last but not least, Banana Nutmeg. It was really hard to rank them, because they were all so good, but I did my best.

They also sent me a product from their superfood line: Raw Banana Spears, made with Vine-Ripened Heirloom Red Bananas.

Let me just start off by saying that I don't actually like red bananas. I also don't like ripe bananas (still slightly green at the top is how I eat 'em) unless they are in cookie, smoothie or bread form. Needless to say, I was not expecting to love these. I was so wrong! These were the biggest surprise of the bunch; they were delicious! They had the look and consistency almost of licorice (banana licorice!), a really nice fragrance and a sweet, but not too strong banana flavour. And the only ingredients are raw, vine-ripened, sun dried banana spears! I was blown away.

They do look a little funny, but the taste and texture totally make up for it; these are nature's candy, really.

A little side note: "Bananas are the world's most phallic fruit!" (Their words, not mine)

Another side note: "Yum" (Totally my words)

Lastly, I was just expecting a box full of food, but I got this unexpected surprise...

Raw Love Butter!

And it's edible? Well I had to test that out for myself.

It was not half bad :) I would not be opposed to spreading it on toast... It makes total sense too; the only ingredients are cacao butter, coconut oil, olive oil and ground vanilla beans.

I decided to try it on my poor cold-chapped hands, and it totally did the trick. It had a few chunks that must have been sitting on the surface, but it was smooth, rich and smelled DELICIOUS! Seriously, I challenge you not to eat this stuff! It would be great for dry elbows or heels, and the label also says you can use it as a natural sunscreen, which is a huge bonus since most commercial sunscreens are full of chemicals. 

What a great company! I love to support healthy, sustainable businesses like them.

And I can't wait to try some of their other chocolates!

Mint? Ginger? Sign me up :)

Have you ever tried Giddy Yoyo products or any other dark chocolate before?

Let me know what you think if you try it!