When my son was young, he was diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency. Despite having a healthy balanced diet, rich in vitamin D. We were advised to give him supplements. However, he just would not take any of the vitamins on the market.
I was told time and time again by various health professionals how important it is for children to have vitamins A, C & D supplements. He just wouldn’t take them! I tried every single available form and taste available. No success. Some of the supplements had added refined sugar and sweeteners in which I did not want to introduce to his diet at such an early age, and when I consulted a dietitian I was told sweeteners aren’t advised for under 3s so to definitely avoid these. I was at a loss and feeling quite down about how I couldn’t get something so vital into him.
I used to make healthy chocolate for my husband and I which we both loved, then one day I decided to give my son some as hey, there was nothing nasty in it and wow – he would gobble this! My son, an incredibly picky eater loved it! I started adding vitamins to this and found he would take them! As he became older he would even remind me ‘Mummy, my chocolate vitamins’! Friends started becoming interested and many confided that their children also wouldn’t take the traditional vitamins and so I started handing them out to friends. Their kids loved it too!
I decided I wanted to start making larger quantities and so my husband and I began the journey of chocolate making and got some machinery to play around with formulas at home. It took about 50 formula revisions and many willing participants to taste different formulas for us, but we finally found the winning recipe.