ITWire

English researchers from the University of Warwick used a technique called the Pickering emulsion to replace up to half of the fat in chocolate with fruit juice.

Dr. Stefan Bon is the lead researcher for the fat-to-fruit-juice chocolate experiment. He states in the August 14, 2012 Daily Mail article Good news for chocaholics: Scientists replace fat with FRUIT JUICE to create healthy chocolate bars that, "Everyone loves chocolate — but unfortunately we all know that many chocolate bars are high in fat."

"However it's the fat that gives chocolate all the indulgent sensations that people crave — the silky smooth texture and the way it melts in the mouth but still has a 'snap' to it when you break it with your hand"

Bon adds, "We've found a way to maintain all of those things that make chocolate 'chocolatey' but with fruit juice instead of fat. Our study is just the starting point to healthier chocolate — we've established the chemistry behind this new technique but now we're hoping the food industry will take our method to make tasty, lower-fat chocolate bars."

During the experiments, the Bon team put orange juice and cranberry juice into milk, dark, and white chocolate. At the same time, they eliminated the cocoa butter and milk fats that traditionally go into chocolate.

They wrote up their results in the paper "Quiescent water-in-oil Pickering emulsions as a route toward healthier fruit juice infused chocolate confectionary" (DOI: 10.1039/C2JM34233B).

It appears in the Journal of Materials Chemistry, making its presence first on the Web on August 8, 2012.

The abstract to the paper states, "We demonstrate a route toward the preparation of healthier fruit juice infused chocolate candy. Up to 50 wt% of the fat content in chocolate, that is cocoa butter and milk fats, is replaced with fruit juice in the form of emulsion droplets using a quiescent Pickering emulsion fabrication strategy."

Preliminary findings state that the newly formulated chocolate tastes a little fruity, but still satisfies the desires of chocolate lovers. (I'll have to do my own taste test to be sure!)

The four authors of the study are: Thomas S. Skelhon, Nadia Grossiord, Adam R. Morgan, and Stefan A. F. Bon, all from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick.