For many people, chocolate is a sweet treat: its main ingredients are cocoa mass and cocoa butter, which are extracted from the cocoa bean. What is less known, however, is that the cocoa bean contains additional valuable components that have been underutilized until now.

Researchers from the Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich have joined forces with the chocolate industry to produce a variety of whole grain chocolate, a type of chocolate that is healthier and more environmentally friendly. Their purpose was to investigate the possibility of maximum use of the cocoa beanwhich would increase the profitability of cocoa farming while at the same time would make chocolate a healthier treat. The research team led by ETH professor emeritus Erich Windhab collaborated with the start-up Koa, which is dedicated to the sustainable cultivation of cocoa beans, and the Swiss chocolate manufacturer Felchlin to develop a recipe for chocolate with cocoa fruits.

Kim Mishra, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Food, argues that the cocoa fruit is similar to the melon: “These fruits have similar structures. Both have a hard outer skin that reveals the fruit’s flesh when cut, as well as the seeds and cocoa or melon pulp inside.”

Conventional chocolate uses only the beans, but the researchers were able to use the flesh and parts of the fruit’s shell. After they modified them the result is a “cocoa jelly”, which is so sweet that can replace sugar.

However, it was not easy for scientists to find the perfect recipe for cocoa fruit chocolate. They did many tests in order to reach this result. Ultimately, the researchers found that up to 20% of the chocolate could consist of this cocoa jelly which is equivalent in sweetness to 5 – 10% powdered sugar. In comparison, conventional dark chocolate can easily contain between 30 and 40% powdered sugar.

To test the sensory experience of the new recipes, trainees from the Bern University of Applied Sciences tasted chocolate bars weighing 5 grams each, with some containing varying amounts of powdered sugar and others containing the new variety sweetened with cocoa gel. “This allowed us to empirically determine the sweetness of our recipe as expressed in an equivalent amount of powdered sugar”says Mishra.

Using cocoa gel as a sweetener, Cocoa Fruit Chocolate has a higher fiber content than your average European dark chocolate. It also contains only 23 grams of saturated fat as opposed to the usual 33 grams. This means that ETH researchers they managed to increase the fiber content by about 20%, while they reduced the percentage of saturated fat by about 30%. “Fiber is physiologically valuable because it naturally regulates intestinal activity and prevents blood sugar levels from rising too quickly when we consume chocolate. Saturated fat can also pose a health risk when consumed in excess. There is a link between increased consumption of saturated fat and increased risk of cardiovascular disease,” explains Mishra.

However, this does not mean that cocoa fruit chocolate will hit the market anytime soon. “Although we have shown that our chocolate is attractive and has a comparable sensory experience to regular chocolate, the entire creative value chain will have to adapt, starting with cocoa farmers, who will need drying facilities,” says Mishra. “Cocoa fruit chocolate can only be produced and sold on a large scale by chocolate producers when enough powder is produced by food processing companies.”

The first step was taken after ETH filed a patent for its cocoa fruit chocolate recipe.