Healthy Loves It is our weekly column where we tell you about the things we cannot live without. See our previous recommendations Here!
My love affair with these perfectly chewy, chocolate-covered vegan candy bars began the usual way: an Instagram doom scroll paused, followed by an impulsive delivery of all four flavors and the fluttering tension before I met in person.
Unlike internet dating, Gigantic didn’t disappoint in real life: the Salted peanut– filled with coconut milk caramel (!), topped with roasted nuts and dipped in fair trade dark chocolate – tastes similar to a Snickers. The Banana pecan is ripe and rich like fresh banana bread Almond Horchata is inconceivable cinnamon, and that Hazelnut CafeAs one reviewer put it, is “a healthy alternative to eating a jar full of Nutella”.
In the rubble of hard-won life lessons is this: What seems good to me at first glance is often the opposite. In life and confectionery, bruises can be moody. I put my first batch of Gigantic Bars to the test with great skepticism – I asked myself: is this relationship sustainable in the long term? – before I offered them a permanent place in my fridge.
The answer was shockingly yes. At just 7 grams per serving, Gigantic’s “sorta sweet” bars are incredibly low in sugar – without having to rely on coarse-tasting artificial sweeteners. For comparison: a Mars bar measures 60 g. And because the sweetness – which mainly comes from small amounts of brown and cane sugar – isn’t that intoxicating, the other flavors are more pronounced. More peanuts. More hazelnut. More banana. No games, just real business.
I would be lying if I said Gigantic’s attractive retro packaging is not part of the appeal. It’s more reminiscent of old-school candy than something you’d find in the health food store, the founder Stu Davidoff says was by nature. So is your life partner super cute? Bonus!
Gigantic and I are way behind on this now. This Valentine’s Day, my boyfriend and I are enjoying a chocluterie platter of all four flavors. We will cut a Variety package in cubes, then laze around on the couch and put them in each other’s mouths like we were two gods in a Botticelli painting. It actually sounds kind of cute, doesn’t it?
