Not only the taste of chocolate stimulates our senses. The smooth texture of the candy is also a big part of what keeps us coming back for more.
The combination of cocoa, sugar and fat is absolutely perfect, but unfortunately these ingredients have their health downsides.
Researchers at the University of Leeds in the UK have now proposed a new way to make chocolate less greasy without sacrificing its smooth texture.
The proposal is based on how a 3D artificial tongue picks up a luxury candy bar.
When the robotic mouthpiece was inserted into four different samples of dark chocolate, the researchers noticed that the fat content on the outside of the bar coated the tongue in melted goodness.
If this is true of a human mouth, the fat content hidden in the body of a candy bar might not make much contact with the tongue or cheek before mixing with saliva and sliding down our throats.
The tongue was tested on candy bars with four different fat, sugar and cocoa compositions. The cocoa content was between 70 and 99 percent. Finally, the higher fat bars lubricated the 3D tongue better.
In addition, when greasy chocolate stuck to the tongue, it released cocoa particles directly against the tongue’s taste buds.
When zooming in on a model of a single tongue bump, known as papillae, the researchers noticed a similar sticky phenomenon.
The authors acknowledge that their tongue model is simple and may not be transferrable to an actual human mouth. Nevertheless she postulate that “lubrication of surfaces in the single papilla scale is determined by a bridging action of cocoa butter between the cocoa particles…”
In other words, the more fat surrounding a candy bar, the more likely it is to stick to the tongue and inner cheek.
“If a chocolate has 5 percent fat or 50 percent fat, it still forms droplets in your mouth and that’s what gives you the chocolate feel.” explained Nutritionist Anwesha Sarkar.
“We show that the fat layer has to be on the outer layer of the chocolate, that’s most important, followed by an effective coating of the cocoa particles with fat that helps chocolate feel so good.”
Whether it is possible to produce a low-fat chocolate bar while maintaining the product’s texture and taste must now be investigated in practical studies.
The current study didn’t look at how fat content affects the taste of chocolate, but fatter chocolate can hold cocoa to a person’s taste buds and enhance the flavor.
The authors hope their findings can be used to create a next-generation candy bar that’s healthier than ever, but still just as delicious.
“We believe that dark chocolate can be made in a gradient layer architecture, with fat covering the surface of pralines and particles to provide the desired indulgence experience without adding too much fat into the body of the chocolate,” the team said closes.
We hope they are right.
The study was published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
