The Party Set Up
While other bloggers may be hosting in house parties, I knew that would not fly with my friends and neighbors. I don't want to endanger then and if you are eating or drinking you cannot be safe during this pandemic. We met online using the Facebook events and rooms feature. I took screen shots during the party to share here with you all. I invited a total of seven people over six households and representatives of five households were able to participate. Below you see the FB event page that I set up in advance.
What we as The Chocolate Cult are most interested in is the Suntella: Sugar-Free Chocolate Spread. I was only sent one jar of this so I gave everyone a small container with some of it so they could at least taste it for themselves. I thought it had a good chocolatey flavor but it also was very much sunflower in flavor. That isn't surprising consider that dutched cocoa is the fourth ingredient on the label while sunflower seeds are the first ingredient.
For my personal taste testing of the Suntella, I tried it on a slice of white high fiber bread, a whole grain cracker, and a reduced sodium butter cracker (these are what I had in my house). By itself, the Suntella has a strong chocolate, sweet, and sunflower flavor. I liked it but not as much as a peanut butter and chocolate or hazelnut and chocolate spread; both of these could be lower in sugar, too. On the slice of bread, the spread's sunflower flavor was toned down a touch and the chocolate flavor seemed ramped up but the sweetness was intense. On the lower sodium butter cracker, the spread blended well with the cracker, the cracker toned down the sunflower flavor and the chocolate made the cracker seem less bland. On the whole grain cracker the flavors of the cracker itself overwhelmed the spread. Of those three, I recommend the lower sodium butter cracker as the best combination with the Suntella.
My biggest complaint is that like many more expensive spreads and nut butters on the market, this required stirring for about 30 seconds before it was the consistency of a spread.
What did my testers think about the Suntella?
Everyone seemed to like the small samples I was able to include in their bags.
We all wished that Lakanto had given The Chocolate Cult enough of those jars of product so that everyone could have worked with it directly.
The Household Testers
Five households helped me with this party. The ages ranged from 20s to 70s and two households had children as well. Below is a screenshot of all of them with me as hosting so I'm not shown.
The Treats People Made and Shared at our Party
I made Fudgy Brownies with Suntella Chocolate Mousse Frosting.
Five other households tested out the Classic sweetener. They put thought and effort into this, each and every one of them. The recipes they made and shared online included:
- Chocolate Chip Cookie (two households)
- Dark Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Cookie
- Keto Meringue Cookies
- Brownies
- Lemonade (two households)
- Hot Tea
- Cinnamon and Sugar on Toast
- Golden Sweetener on Oatmeal
Only one household got the Golden Sweetener and once more, everyone at the party seemed to agree with me that we wished the brand has sent us an equal amount of that versus so much of the Classic variety. One other person has also tried that Golden variety in the past. It wasn't as crispy in terms of baking with it as brown sugar normally is.
Tasting and Recipe Results
Of the seven testers I was able to pull together for this online party, two had been part of my last Lakanto tasting party in 2019. They both wondered if the recipe for the product had changed since all three of us (them and myself) agreed that the aftertaste was basically non-existent this time around.
Most of the testers thought the sweetness was fine while a couple used less than the 1:1 ratio the product bags suggest. This just really demonstrates what we believe here on this blog: taste is personal.
The type of method used to make the recipe affected the texture a great deal. I think humidity might also have played a factor.
One person brought up the point that there is a negative with the inclusion of erythritol -- this isn't safe to share with most pets. As I pointed out last time, I have a couple of folks who have helped me with these tasting parties in the past who cannot because of the erythritol, too. This is not safe for everyone to use.
Final Results
Every one of the seven taste testers would continue to use the product in the future. Personally, I'm still looking for the best sugar sub but primarily I just want more chocolate like the Suntella to test out and then reveal here for all of you to discover.
A huge Thank You to all of my testers for letting me delivery the sample bags to them, for taking the time to work with the product, and for joining me for the online sharing about it. You are important to all of us making The Chocolate Cult work.
If you have used the Lakanto Classic or Golden sweeteners or their Suntella, leave a comment and let us know what you thought.
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