This vegan chocolate spread is wholesome – but does it pass the taste test?

What is it? Nobó Piedmont Hazelnut Chocolate Spread (€7.50, 200g).

What’s good about it? It is vegan, and made with only four natural ingredients – Piedmont hazelnuts (69 per cent), coconut sugar, single origin cocoa powder and sunflower lecithin – which means as treat foods go, it’s pretty wholesome. The hazelnuts have IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta/Indication of Geographic Protection) recognition. The first time I tried it, it was given to me by artisan baker Gerry Godley, who uses it in his Bread Man Walking microbakery in Dublin 8 and rates it highly.

How do I use it? As a sweet spread on bread or crackers, with ice-cream (Nobó has a great vegan ice cream range), or in baking recipes. Plus it’s also good added to a beef or back bean chilli and to venison stew. I’m also going to try it in this Mexican chicken mole recipe using Gran Luchito smoked chilli paste from Picado, where the sweetness might be a good match for the chilli.

Where can I buy it? It is available online from nobo.ie, along with a range of nut butters and vegan chocolate. It is also stocked in good delis and independent food stores nationwide.

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Anything else? Brian and Rachel Nolan started making Nobó vegan ice-cream from their home kitchen a decade ago, selling it at farmers’ markets. Now the company is a full-time business for them both, and 12 months ago they opened The Treathouse on Dunville Avenue in Ranelagh, Dublin 6, as a company HQ and Chocolate Lab, where they create chocolate truffles, ganache and pralines with their single origin dairy-free chocolate. You can also pick up a smoothie, or coffee and cake while you’re there.

Send your Shelf Help product suggestions to marieclaire.digby@irishtimes.com