W
holeFruit Chocolate is the brand new offering from the Zurich-based business Barry Callebaut, which was introduced almost precisely two years after the company’s first launch of ruby chocolate. The percentage of the cacao pod that is supposed to be thrown away during the manufacturing process of chocolate is 70%, according to one of the facts that was released about the product line. You may have seen some of the articles that were published after the launch party for the CacaoFruit Experience products in September. These articles praised the CacaoFruit Experience as “the future of sustainable chocolate production.”
I’m not here to bring more sunshine and rainbows to this event (full disclosure: I wasn’t there, nor have I sampled the chocolate itself—yet). Instead, I’m here to pose some questions that I believe need to be answered. Now, let me tell you about an amazing new product that will soon be available in the chocolate industry.
Since I was made aware of the upcoming debut of the product, every one of these inquiries has been running through my head. I am aware that some of my inquiries may not have answers at this time because of confidential business information, but I cannot help but wonder about them anyhow. Because of this, I’m putting them out there in the hopes that others may come up with their own solutions before the first bar of WholeFruit Chocolate is offered for sale to the general public. But first, a brief introduction to the project as a whole and an explanation of why this particular release is groundbreaking regardless of the circumstances.
Updated in April 2021: Blue Stripes Cacao, a chocolate firm located in New York City, is now producing their own chocolates that are sweetened with cacao sugar, and they also offer a range of additional sweeteners that are derived from cacao. Have a look at these. C
Contents
What Is Cacao?
Cacao is the name of the tropical fruit known scientifically as Theobroma cacao, which is used in the manufacture of chocolate. Cacao must first be picked, the seed must then be removed from its shell, the cacao must then be fermented, dried, transported, sorted, roasted, peeled, and crushed into chocolate before it can be tempered and formed into edible delicacies for people to enjoy. It is a time-consuming procedure, and although while the majority of the cacao pod is not suitable for use in the production of chocolate, it has traditionally been put to use on the farm.
Farmers in cacao-growing countries all over the globe create cacao liquor from the cacao juice that drips from fermentation boxes. They also break up cacao pods and spines so that they may either return them to the land as fertilizer or prepare them for various types of consumption locally. Even in chocolate factories, there are chocolate makers on the artisan chocolate level who use the cacao husks to produce cocoa tea, despite the fact that this practice raises its own unique set of ethical and environmental problems. Therefore, despite the fact that cacao production may be made relatively sustainable on a small scale, the kind of sustainability that the Cacao Experience products are promoting is not the same as the one described above.
In these press releases and publications, the revolutionary sustainability that is being alluded to is that of the cocoa sector as a component of global agriculture. Large chocolate makers need to figure out a method to offer cacao farmers more money so that they will continue to work with cacao even as other, higher-paying crops become more attractive to cacao farmers. It’s possible that solving this problem might include eliminating a significant portion of the post-harvest work while maintaining current wage levels. But the future of WholeFruit Chocolate also depends on the customers and whether or not they appreciate the flavor of cacao in its purest form. If they do, then the company will have a bright future.
What Does Cacao Fruit Taste Like?
My impression is that the flavor of fresh cacao pulp is similar to that of a lychee fruit, which may be more or less acidic depending on the variety (and likely the area in which it was grown). Many cacao farmers all around the globe are already utilizing the juice and pulp of their crops locally, and not simply for the production of alcoholic beverages. They transform it into beverages such as wine, vinegar, honey, jam, and effervescent juice, each of which highlights a distinctive aspect of the taste of the fresh cocoa fruit.
The exterior pod, the spine that holds the seeds in place, the mucilage and pulp, and the seeds make up the anatomy of a cacao pod (also known as beans). The beans themselves have the additional anatomy of their husk, nibs, and germ, but in a standard chocolate bar, only the nibs are ingested. This is because the husk and germ are inedible. At this time, the general population is just consuming the nibs and a tiny amount of the juice. This is because the nibs have a longer shelf life.
CacaoFruit Experience Products: Infrastructure For Sustainability
Despite the fact that I haven’t purchased a chocolate candy bar from the grocery store in over a decade, I have noticed the significant price increase that has occurred since 2009, which has more than doubled. A portion of this can be attributed to simple inflation, while the remaining portion is attributable to the rising overall costs of materials, which includes cacao. In point of fact, throughout the course of the last several years, major chocolate manufacturers have made an attempt, but to little effect, to foster cacao producing areas in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Even in places where it’s easier to get to, the amount of labor necessary makes cocoa production a poor investment.
It is not worthwhile for farmers to grow cacao at a price of $1 per kilogram if they have no other options for adding value to their crops because the market for premium cacao brands is already oversaturated. Farmers are forced to choose between cutting down their cacao trees or not growing cacao at all because they could get many times that amount for the same amount of effort by growing rubber or durian instead. The new product line that Callebaut is releasing aims to solve this problem by providing the missing value. The most important issue at this point is how end users will respond to the actual items being offered.
The flavor of fresh cacao fruit is quite unique and in no way resembles the flavor of chocolate at all. Cacao is the main ingredient in chocolate. This indicates that the flavor of whole fruit chocolate, both in terms of flavor and texture, will be distinct from the taste of regular chocolate. Even though I have not yet had the opportunity to try WholeFruit Chocolate for myself, I am under the impression that each bar has the flavor of cacao fruit, much like how natural process coffee has the flavor of coffee cherries. Quite a few years back, I came across a project on Kickstarter for a device that was very similar to this one in cacao, but it was for coffee. That item was ground coffee, or coffee flour.
Coffee flour is made by milling the spent coffee bean peels, which are known in Spanish as cáscara. This flour is then used in cooking and baking. In the years that have followed, cáscara products, in particular cáscara teas, sodas, and concentrates, have only become more widespread and well-liked among consumers. The CacaoFruit Experience line appears to be the cacao-based counterpart to this, albeit with a greater emphasis on the utilization of cacao’s byproducts. You can view some pictures that were posted on Instagram of the new chocolates down below.
View this post on Instagram
What Is WholeFruit Chocolate & Where To Buy?
WholeFruit Bold and WholeFruit Velvety are the two varieties of chocolate that are produced by the Barry Callebaut group under the WholeFruit Chocolate brand. The chocolate line is manufactured solely from cacao beans and pulp, with the addition of milk for the Velvety bar; it is scheduled to be on sale in May of 2020. In contrast to the initial release of ruby chocolate that was made available to the general public by Nestle Japan, the company is only making it available to a limited number of artisan chocolatiers and chefs at the present time.
In addition, similar to how ruby chocolate was marketed, the CacaoFruit Experience line is geared at a more youthful demographic. In this particular instance, however, it is targeted toward customers under the age of 40 who are looking for a “healthy indulgence.” However, for this specific reason, I believe that the WholeFruit Chocolate could actually become quite popular in East Asia, which is a region in which the consumption of chocolate has become an issue related to one’s health.
Because the cacao pulp sugar that was called for in the recipe was created by adapting an existing method for the production of fruit sugars, it was not possible to secure a patent on the product. This indicates that such a method has the potential to be a way for cacao producers in remote areas to find a use for their own waste pulp and fibers, unless, of course, they choose to make something else out of all of the materials that they have available.
It would appear that Mondelez’s two CaPao products, which were announced earlier this year on Kickstarter (yes, seriously), were the first two products released by the CacaoFruit Experience line of confections. Smoothie Balls and Cacao Fruit Jerky Strips were the products in question, and they are going to be sold in Los Angeles, California, United States before the end of the year. However, as noted by chocolate expert Clay Gordon in his overview of the product line and his account of his participation in the launch event, Callebaut is planning the introduction of a number of additional CacaoFruit Experience products in the near future.
One of these items is a cacao juice, and it seems to be very comparable to the other cacao juices that are already available on the market. The most fascinating product that Clay described was a pod-based flour or crumble, which brings to mind the coffee flour that was discussed earlier in the sentence (made from the peel of the coffee cherry). This product had a previous launch in 2012 on a crowdfunding site as well, but with a somewhat lower budget and to an audience that was significantly less ecologically conscious. Even larger expectations have been placed on the cacao variants, which are scheduled to become available during the next several years.
Their press releases state that the line of products derived from cacao will cut waste on the farm by approximately 70%, which is an ambitious goal that must be achieved in practice.
Questions About WholeFruit Chocolate
WholeFruit Bold and WholeFruit Velvety are the two varieties of chocolate that are produced by the Barry Callebaut company under the WholeFruit Chocolate brand (which has added milk). The chocolate line is manufactured solely from cacao beans and pulp, with the addition of milk for the Velvety bar; it is scheduled to be on sale in May of 2020. In contrast to the first distribution of ruby chocolate that was made accessible to the general public by Nestle Japan, the business is only making it available to a limited number of artisan chocolatiers and chefs at the present time.
In addition, similar to how ruby chocolate was marketed, the CacaoFruit Experience line is geared at a more youthful demographic. In this particular instance, however, it is targeted at customers under the age of 40 who are looking for a “healthy splurge.” However, for this specific reason, I believe that the WholeFruit Chocolate might possibly become rather popular in East Asia, which is a region in which the intake of chocolate has become an issue related to one’s health.
Because the cacao pulp sugar that was called for in the recipe was created by adapting an existing method for the production of fruit sugars, it was not possible to get a patent on the product. This indicates that such a procedure has the potential to be a way for cacao producers in remote areas to find a purpose for their own waste pulp and fibers, unless, of course, they choose to manufacture something else out of all of the materials that they have available.
It would seem that Mondelez’s two CaPao items, which were introduced earlier this year on Kickstarter (yeah, honestly), were the first two goods released by the CacaoFruit Experience brand of confections. Smoothie Balls and Cacao Fruit Jerky Strips were the goods in question, and they are going to be sold in Los Angeles, California, United States before the end of the year. However, as noted by chocolate expert Clay Gordon in his analysis of the product line and his account of his participation in the launch event, Callebaut is planning the introduction of a number of other CacaoFruit Experience goods in the near future.
One of these items is a cacao juice, and it seems to be very comparable to the other cacao juices that are already available on the market. The most fascinating product that Clay described was a pod-based flour or crumble, which brings to mind the coffee flour that was discussed earlier in the sentence (made from the peel of the coffee cherry). This product had a previous launch in 2012 on a crowdfunding site as well, but with a somewhat lower budget and to an audience that was significantly less ecologically conscious. Even larger expectations have been placed on the cacao variants, which are scheduled to become available during the next several years.
Their press releases state that the range of goods made from cocoa would save waste on the farm by around 70%, which is an ambitious goal that must be achieved in practice.
- Where exactly does the cocoa originate?
- How does this assist to ensure that a greater proportion of the crop’s economic and physical worth is retained at its point of origin?
- What measures are taken to guarantee that the husks and juice of the beans, which are often composted or discarded before the production of chocolate, do not contain any of the bacteria that was present throughout the fermentation process?
In terms of health, the selling point for the WholeFruit Chocolate idea is based on the restricted nutrition statistics supplied by Barry Callebaut itself, which state that the product has 40% less sugar, 90% more fiber, and 25% more protein than traditional chocolate. However, these assertions are not supported by any study that has been made public, and they do not even specify which chocolate they are comparing it to. It would be great to know what baseline they’re comparing it to, much as it would be for people, whose bodily compositions come in an unlimited variety of different combinations of fat, bone, muscle, and skin. For instance, compared to a milk chocolate with either 42% or 43% cocoa solids, the 60% WholeFruit Velvety would already contain 40% less sugar.
Clay said that Callebaut is paying more than the dry-weight equivalent for complete cacao pods, but the price of cacao on the market in various locations, as well as the price that is considered to be fair in those areas, fluctuates greatly. Therefore, wherever the cacao is sourced, are the CacaoFruit Experience products manufactured in the same place and employing local people (thereby adding more value to that local economy and lessening the impact that the products have upon the environment)? How should the pods be sterilized, and is there any kind of uniformity when it comes to the yeasts that are used for the fermentation of the seeds? This is in preparation for when the operation is carried out in other locations.
A few more questions to consider:
- How is it that sugar is made from cacao?
- What kinds of nutrients does cacao sugar include, and how does its production compare to that of other types of fruit sugars, such as monk fruit sugar or coconut sugar, which each have their own unique origins?
- How does the tempering process work with these items (in terms of temperature, viscosity, and so on)?
- Would home chocolatiers be able to purchase bigger quantities of the WholeFruit Chocolates to bake with at home, similar to how they may do so with other Callebaut chocolates, or will they only be available to licensed businesses?
- What about the presence of cadmium in each and every product?
When all that Callebaut tells the public about such a significant advance is shared in a single press release, you can bet that I’m going to have some questions about it. The majority of these aren’t pressing questions (and many of them are just plain chocolate geek-outs), but I can guarantee that I will have some questions. In the next months, I have no doubt that the majority of these concerns will be addressed, but in the meanwhile, as consumers who are becoming more engaged to the foods we eat, we need to ensure that we are asking the appropriate questions.
Again, I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to read Clay’s article on his experience with the launch. It has a great deal more useful information than anything else you will find online, including, regrettably, the website for the brand itself. He provides more statistics obtained from conversations with officials at Callebaut, as well as some information on the flavor of forthcoming goods from the CacaoFruit Experience line.
So… Is WholeFruit Chocolate Sugar-Free?
It is essential that you take note of the following: no, it is not.
Because it has an effect on your blood sugar, WholeFruit Chocolate does not qualify as sugar free in the same way that a bar made of 100% chocolate would not. Your body processes cacao sugar similarly to how it processes refined white sugar because it is still fructose, which is a simple sugar in and of itself. It is important to remember that chocolate is still chocolate and should be consumed as such. Do NOT consume this chocolate as if it were a fruit that you could eat an unlimited amount of.
Nevertheless, I have to say that I am blown away by the level of innovation that Barry Callebaut maintains as a company. I have a lot of unanswered questions about WholeFruit Chocolate, and I am hoping that I will get some of them answered sooner rather than later. Instead of allowing Callebaut to set up additional processing facilities around the world, which take away potential value from small farming communities, it is my hope that some of these manufacturing methods will be able to be used by cacao producers around the world to add to their overall income. For the sake of chocolate, I really hope that they will treat the farmers and the environment with respect.
FAQs
What is the name of the fruit of chocolate?
Cacao: The fruit behind your chocolate bar
What is Evocao?
The revolutionary new experience that you will have with EvocaoTM WholeFruit chocolate comes from the fact that it is made from cacaofruit that is 100% pure. Its signature taste is bright, citrusy, and tangy, and it is complemented by what distinguishes Evocao: a tropical fruitiness that bursts with the fresh pulp of mango, lemon, mandarin, passion fruit, and cacaofruit.
Is chocolate a fruit?
A fruit-bearing plant, the cocoa tree is comparable to an apple tree in its characteristics. As a result, the cocoa seeds that are utilized in the production of chocolate are also regarded as a type of fruit. After this point, the vocabulary might get confusing, even for knowledgeable people. Even though the primary component of chocolate is a fruit, that component undergoes extensive processing before it can be considered chocolate.
What are the 4 types of chocolate?
Several Distinct Categories of Chocolate. There are four distinct varieties of chocolate: ruby, dark, milk, and white. Cacao trees produce the seeds, also known as nibs, that are used to make chocolate. They are then ground into a paste that is called chocolate liquor after first being roasted.
What are the 3 main chocolates?
White chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate are the three primary varieties of chocolate. White chocolate is the purest form of chocolate. Everybody has a flavor that they always reach for first and foremost. However, how much do you actually know about the various kinds of chocolate that are available?
