East Midlands baking entrepreneur Helen Yates, who co-runs one of the oldest family-run bakeries in the country, has launched a delicious new chocolate-covered snack that contains carrots!
Rootles is a new concept in the snack bar sector and is believed to be the first, and only, indulgent treat that is vegetable based to hit the impulse sweet snacking category.
Helen will be launching Rootles on a national stage at the food and drink trade show lunch! in London, which runs 23rd and 24th September.
Currently available in two flavours, dark chocolate and milk chocolate, each pack of Rootles contains three crunchy carrot biscuit fingers smothered in delicious chocolate. And at 120 calories per pack, has fewer calories than many other snack bars because the biscuits are naturally sweetened with nutritious root veggies.
Baked with over 35% root veg and featuring carrot, along with a dash of sweet potato, Rootles are high in fibre and contain less sugar and fat than many chocolate snacks.
They have been developed by Helen Yates, who co-runs Luke Evans Bakery in Derbyshire with her husband David. Riddings-based Luke Evans Bakery has a history stretching back to 1804 and this new brand highlights that the bakery is continually innovating.
Helen said: “The Covid pandemic has led to a greater focus on health and Rootles are the perfect product for guilt-free snacking, as they are high fibre and contain just 120 calories per pack – fewer than many other snack bars. Consumers are looking for healthier snacks, particularly in the impulse snacking sector, but they don’t expect to compromise on taste or texture and still want to treat themselves. Veg has been added to cakes for a long time but we’ve taken the concept a stage further and developed biscuit bars using root vegetables.
“Rootles taste like a traditional chocolate biscuit but are naturally sweetened with carrot and sweet potato. They are deliciously unconventional and really have to be tasted to be believed!”
Helen was inspired to develop the product through her work mentoring and supporting international business students at the University of Nottingham. The concept of using veg in biscuits was developed as a market research project, which sparked her interest in the idea.
Later, she received funded support from Mission Ventures and the Good Food Fund, which identified Rootles as being a winning healthy snack to help fight obesity.
Rootles are made to a recipe that has been perfected over many months and have a shelf life of at least seven months delivered.
The production of Rootles has been sub-contracted out while the brand becomes established.
Rootles are available to buy online via http://www.rootles.co.uk or Amazon and are also currently on sale in a number of outlets in Derbyshire including Croots Farm Shop at Duffield, Denstone Hall Farm Shop, White’s Calver, Winster Village Shop, the Spar in Chesterfield, the Heights of Abraham, as well as the Luke Evans Bakery shop in Riddings.
Helen is working on a national roll out of Rootles and hoping to secure listings with retailers, cafés, leisure venues and other outlets. They are currently distributed via the Luke Evans Bakery network, which operates across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire.
The recommended retail price of Rootles is £1.00-1.20 per 27g pack.