Sweet Innovation: Researchers Develop Healthier, Sustainable Chocolate

New cocoa-fruit chocolate boosts health, sustainability, and farmer incomes by fully utilizing the cocoa-fruit.

ETH researchers have developed a type of chocolate that is more sustainable and nutritious than conventional varieties.
Cocoa-​fruit chocolate uses cocoa fruit jelly as a replacement for powdered sugar, reducing the sugar content and increasing the product’s nutritional value.
This new chocolate recipe also has the potential to diversify the income sources of small farmers.
The primary components of chocolate are cocoa mass and cocoa butter, both of which are derived from the cocoa fruit. However, there are many other useful ingredients in the cocoa fruit that are largely underutilized in traditional chocolate recipes.

In a new Innosuisse project, researchers from ETH Zurich are collaborating with sustainability-focused chocolate start-up Koa, and Swiss chocolate manufacturer Felchlin to create a new chocolate recipe that maximizes the use of the whole cocoa plant. This new recipe is healthier, more sustainable, and increases the profitability of cocoa cultivation.