Belfast chocolate brand Free’ist has relaunched its original milk and dark chocolate range with a new recipe.

Gerard McAdorey, founder of GM Marketing, created Free’ist Chocolate in 2013. Over the past decade, the founder says Free’ist has been “committed to stripping sugar from shelves in a sustainable and ethical way”.

In the brand's new guise, it uses fino de aroma cocoa beans from Columbia to devise what McAdorey calls a “better-for-you” chocolate.

McAdorey commented: “People are adapting to healthier lifestyles which has been a huge driver in the demand for products that are free from sugar, dairy, and artificial ingredients. They still want to be able to treat themselves in a healthy, responsible, and guilt-free manner – but taste will not be sacrificed so we have worked tirelessly to perfect this over the past decade.

“As the brand celebrates its tenth birthday, I’m delighted to say that I believe we have finally cracked it. Our chocolatiers have enabled us to create our best-tasting range of Free’ist products while committing to ethical sourcing that uses only the finest quality ingredients.”

The plant-based range launches with a four-strong portfolio including oat chocolate and the flavour extensions of oat with raspberry, coconuts, or almonds.

McAdorey added: “While sugar levels are the biggest concern amongst consumers, they are also very wary of artificial sweeteners, and there is a growing and widespread demand for plant-based sweeteners. It was this insight that drove us to find a stevia-based solution for our products.”

The full Free’ist range consists of six no-added-sugar milk and dark chocolate bars, and four new no-added-sugar plant-based, dairy-free bars.

Listings for the brand have been secured with multiples such as selected Tesco, Dunnes, Supervalu and Spar stores.

Photo: Gerard McAdorey and brand manager Kaitlyn Martin