Fruit juice the key to healthy chocolate

Could there be such a thing as healthy chocolate? University of Warwick researchers say there could be.

Dr Stefan Bon presented his research findings on alternative chocolate manufacture at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. According to Bon, chocolate can be manufactured with fruit juice, vitamin C water or diet cola replacing up to 50% of the fat.

Dr Stefan Bon.

To create this healthy chocolate, the juice is incorporated in the form of microbubbles that help chocolate retain its lush, velvety mouthfeel. The process also prevents ‘sugar bloom’, the unappetising white film that coats the surface of chocolate that has been on the shelf for a while.

“We have established the chemistry that’s a starting point for healthier chocolate confectionery,” Bon said. “This approach maintains the things that make chocolate ‘chocolatey’, but with fruit juice instead of fat. Now we’re hoping the food industry will take the next steps and use the technology to make tasty, lower-fat chocolate bars and other candy.”

Bon says the technology works with dark, milk and white chocolate. His team at the University of Warwick has made chocolate infused with apple, orange and cranberry juice.

“Fruit-juice-infused candy tastes like an exciting hybrid between traditional chocolate and a chocolate-juice confectionery,” Bon said. “Since the juice is spread out in the chocolate, it doesn’t overpower the taste of the chocolate. We believe that the technology adds an interesting twist to the range of chocolate confectionery products available.

“The opportunity to replace part of the fat matrix with water-based juice droplets allows for greater flexibility and tailoring of both the overall fat and sugar content.”

Bon’s team used fruit juices and other food-approved ingredients to form a Pickering emulsion, named for British chemist Percival Spencer Umfreville Pickering. In 1907, Pickering discovered a new way to stabilise emulsions - combinations of liquids like the egg yolk and oil in mayonnaise that normally would not mix together. Chocolate is an emulsion of cocoa butter and water or milk combined with cocoa powder.

Pickering’s method used solid particles rather than an emulsifier and Bon’s team embraced that century-old approach in their work.