Swiss Scientists’ Make a Chocolate Breakthrough

Chocolate is a favorite of many and can be found in many decadent desserts. But it is usually thought of as an unhealthy delight to be indulged in only occasionally. Now Swiss scientists have found a way to make chocolate healthier for you and for the planet too.

The traditional method of chocolate making only uses the seeds and that is wasteful and not sustainable, reported the BBC. The new method uses the entire cocoa fruit instead of just the seeds, and that makes it eco-friendly and sweet without using added sugar.

Developed by scientist Erich Windhab and his team, researchers at Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology, recently published their work in the journal Nature Food. The project partnered with KOA, a Swiss startup that is working on sustainable cocoa farming.

The benefits of using the entire fruit
The new chocolate does not need any added sugar due to the natural sweetness in the cocoa fruit. In fact, the juice contains 14 percent sugar which is distilled down to a concentrated syrup and then combined with the fruit pulp to form a gel. When the gel is added to cocoa beans to make chocolate it is naturally sweet.

Kim Mishra, the main author of the study said in an ETH Zurich news release that the cocoa fruit has similar properties to honeydew melon. “These fruits have similar structures. Both have a hard outer shell that reveals the flesh of the fruit when cut open, as well as the cocoa beans or melon seeds and pulp in the interior.”

But it wasn’t easy coming up with the right recipe for the cocoa-fruit chocolate, according to the news release. They tested the texture of many different mixes but too much pulp made the chocolate clumpy and too little pulp wasn’t sweet enough.

The mixtures were tested by trained panelists from the Bern University of Applied Sciences using small pieces of chocolate that weighed just five  grams each to find out which one worked the best. But besides eliminating added refined sugar to the chocolate, using the fruit also boasted the fiber content.

“Fiber is valuable from a physiological perspective because it naturally regulates intestinal activity and prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly when consuming chocolate. Saturated fat can also pose a health risk when too much is consumed. There’s a relationship between increased consumption of saturated fats and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases,” explained Mishra.

More sustainable
The traditional system of cocoa production in Africa and South America is not sustainable, reported BBC. The industry is also suffering from the soaring price of cocoa beans and the poverty of the cocoa farmers. Using the entire fruit could help moderate these two issues.

“The farmers get significantly extra income through utilizing cocoa pulp, but also the important industrial processing is happening in the country of origin. Creating jobs, creating value that can be distributed in the country of origin,” KOA cofounder Anian Schreiber told BBC.

Cocoa production has been linked to colonialism and child labor but the chocolate industry has been cleaning up its act. Producers are supposed to monitor the supply chain to make sure child labor is not being used. Using fair trade chocolate ensures that farmers are paid a living wage.

And beginning in 2025, The European Union prohibited the use of cocoa beans grown in any area where deforestation took place. But this may only move European countries to purchase South American beans, which is less problematic.

Roger Wehrli, director of the association of Swiss chocolate manufacturers said that the new chocolate is: “Very promising… If you use the whole cocoa fruit, you can get better prices. So it’s economically interesting for the farmers. And it’s interesting from an ecological point of view.”

Chocolate producers in Africa, South America, and even in the US, are already contacting Mishra about the new method. In Switzerland, chocolate producers including Lindt, are starting to use the entire cocoa plant and not just the beans, but none have completely eliminated refine sugar.

“We have to find daring chocolate producers who want to test the market and are willing to contribute to a more sustainable chocolate,” said Mishra. “Then we can disrupt the system.”