Favorite sweets won’t be the same anymore? It’s a big change

Do you know how chocolate is made? Well, its most important ingredient is the cocoa bean. Until now, however, the rest of the plant has been wasted when it comes to producing the brown treat. It’s a bit like saving only the seeds from a pumpkin to eat, instead of using both elements. But a team of scientists from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich has just come up with a solution to this problem.

Instead of sugar

Researchers in Switzerland have developed a way to make chocolate using the entire cocoa fruit, not just the beans – and without using sugar. The brown treat uses the pulp of the cocoa fruit, the juice and the husk, or endocarp, to create it. The process has already attracted the attention of sustainable food companies, the BBC reports.

Another novelty is the new flavor, which according to the creators of this solution is a bit like pineapple. Behind it stands a very sweet juice, which is distilled into a highly concentrated syrup, combined with the pulp, and then mixed with dried husk or endocarp, creating a very sweet cocoa gel. When added to cocoa beans, there is no need to use sugar.

The new solution may not only affect the taste, but also the profits of the chocolate industry, and in particular the situation of cocoa farmers. They will be able to gain additional income by selling elements that were previously thrown away. It also has an ecological dimension – in the same area and at the same cost, more material for chocolate production can be produced than before. Interestingly, it is possible that the change will also slightly increase the final price. As the BBC reports, citing the authors of this solution, it is all due to subsidies for the sugar industry, which allow to maintain low prices of this ingredient.