Chocolate

A team of researchers has traced back the origins of the cocoa tree to a single domestication event thousands of years ago, and uncovered other clues hiding in its genome that could help make future chocolate even better.

​The health benefits of dark chocolate are well known. Two small new studies have sought to build on this by exploring how particular concentrations of cacao can boost cognitive function along with endocrine and cardiovascular health, finding that the darker the chocolate the brighter the results.

​It was approximately 80 years ago that white chocolate was created, joining the existing dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Well, the Barry Callebaut company has unveiled a fourth chocolate. Known as ruby chocolate, its flavor and color come naturally from the ruby cocoa bean.

Diabetics are often warned against the dangers of eating too much chocolate. But it turns out that one of the treat's major components might be just the thing to help keep the disease at bay. Researchers have isolated a compound in cocoa pushes certain cells to become insulin powerhouses.

Chocaholics the world over are fighting to enjoy the sweet treat in moderation, lest they end up looking like Augustus Gloop. A team of scientists in Lausanne has managed to structure sugar differently, which could help create delicious chocolate that's easier on the waistline.

Soon you may no longer have to choose between better-tasting and better-for-you. Scientists have developed a method of boosting the antioxidant levels of milk chocolate up to those of its dark counterpart, while also putting a waste product to new use.​

Belgian researchers working in collaboration with the world's largest chocolate producer, Barry Callebaut, have bred robust yeasts that ferment cocoa to produce bespoke aromas and flavors in the finished chocolate.

Good news if you're hooked on chocolate. A new technique for making chocolate results in it being both healthier and more flavorful. Cacao beans left in their pods for a week before fermentation were found to produce chocolate with higher levels of antioxidants as well as a better taste.

To make mid-morning snacks a bit less harrowing, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute have studied the white film that sometimes forms on chocolate and have come up with the answer for how to prevent it.

Do you forget where you left your keys or parked the car? The good news is that chocolate – or more specifically, naturally occurring compounds in cocoa called flavanols – can reverse age-related memory decline in healthy older adults, according to a Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) study.

UK-based food inventor Charlie Harry Francis is looking to challenge the idea that the sensory delight offered by our favorite foods need live on in the form of bulging waistbands. His Edible Mist Machine is capable of producing inhalable mists ranging in flavor from smoked bacon to apple pie.

Solid Idea is offering a limited run of 3D chocolate printers, for the low price of US$99. While details are slim on the specs of this machine, we can expect to see a final product in the last quarter of this year.