Article

In 2006, Emir and Elena started their adventures into the world of Artisanal chocolate making. The adventure began with Ecole Chocolat’s Professional Chocolatier program where they were taught the basics of candy making. Then it was off to Paris, France to visit the legendary Valhrona chocolate factory and take classes in chocolate making from renowned Valhrona chef Philippe Givre. Upon their return from Paris, they were both inspired to create unique artisanal candies. Each day, they would play around with different ingredients to create unique confections and share them with friends and neighbors. Elena was always the creative one on their team, responsible for creating the unique recipes that thrilled their friends and neighbors. And, Emir was always the business man thinking of how to take the recipes to the market.

Somewhere along the way we got into making caramel. We must have read every book and tried every recipe for caramel making. I remember every day, I would come home from work and we would come up with another unique caramel recipe using every kind of ingredient spices, chocolate, nuts, dry fruits, etc.

Amella was officially launched in 2009 in Los Angeles, California. We started selling at local Farmer’s markets and to local gourmet shops. In 2011, we launch our Agave line of caramels, which substituted Raw Organic Agave Nectar in place of corn syrup in our full line of caramels. Amella was the first company that pioneered the use of agave nectar in caramel. Things really took off from that point and our big break came when the local forager from Whole Foods wanted to carry Amella throughout Southern California. Whole Foods really put Amella on the map and today we are in over 4,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada.

Whole Foods really inspired us as a family to lead a healthier lifestyle and adopt a vegan diet. When we started to sample at Whole Foods, we would get so many requests for a vegan caramel option. One that had no cream, no sugar, and was all organic. We were very intrigued by this new trend in veganism and started to look into it. The more we learned about the health benefits, the more we wanted to become vegans ourselves.

One of the biggest issues for vegans is that there are very limited options when it comes to indulgent sweets, and what’s out there really doesn’t taste good. So, we set out to create a vegan caramel that would rival the best caramels out on the market today. The challenge was that we could not use any dairy, no sugar, and no butter. Basically, the 3 key ingredients in any good caramel were not an option.

We spent the next year, tirelessly working on solution and after about 100 batches we finally came out with the best vegan tasting caramel on the market. Our Vegan caramel center is made with organic tapioca syrup and raw blue weber agave nectar, in place of cane sugar. And, we use organic coconut milk instead of cream. Each caramel is enrobed in organic fair trade 72% dark chocolate. Lastly, we sprinkle them with Sel Gris, a Gray Sea salt hand harvested off the coast of Brittany, France.

Amella’s vegan caramels became a huge hit at Whole Foods and our family lives by them. It’s the perfect snack and so very indulgent. The 2pcs snack packs are perfect for an anytime snack and the 6pcs packs are ideal for sharing and gifting. 

Amella’s vegan caramels are perfect. Made by hand with raw blue weber agave nectar, and contain no refined white sugars.  Each caramel is enrobed in organic 66% cocoa dark chocolate for the perfect combination of sweet, creamy indulgence.