Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Materials

Low-fat chocolate could be a zap away

Simple process alters chocolate particle microstructure, enabling fat reduction

by Mitch Jacoby
July 4, 2016 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 94, Issue 27

[+]Enlarge
Credit: Shutterstock
Chocolate can contain up to 60% fat, mainly in the form of cocoa butter.
Photo of melted chocolate.
Credit: Shutterstock
Chocolate can contain up to 60% fat, mainly in the form of cocoa butter.

By applying an electric field to melted chocolate, confectioners could alter its microstructure in a way that enables them to reduce the fat content simply and at low cost, according to a study supported in part by Mars Chocolate (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2016, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1605416113). Chocolate, which can contain as much as 60% fat, is typically processed as a liquid and solidified just before packaging. The liquid is a suspension of roughly 2-µm-wide particles, containing cocoa, sugar, and milk solids, in a base of liquid fat and oil, mainly cocoa butter. Simply removing fat from the suspension concentrates the solids, which causes the liquid to become too viscous to flow through manufacturing equipment. To bypass the viscosity problem, Temple University physicist Rongjia Tao and coworkers applied an electric field to chocolate along the direction it flowed. They found that the process aggregates the particles, forming chainlike structures several micrometers in length oriented along the flow direction. This reduced the viscosities of brandname chocolates by 40 to 50%, allowing a roughly 10% reduction in fat and yielding “wonderful tasting chocolate,” Tao says.

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.