During a study funded by Mars Chocolate, scientists developed a method of cutting the fat content of chocolate by applying an electric field to it in liquid form. The new chocolate is both healthier and better tasting than conventional chocolate, apparently.
During most of it’s time in a factory, chocolate exists as a liquid, flowing from one machine to another. Liquid milk chocolate is composed of fat and oils (mostly cocoa butter) with particles of cocoa, sugar, and milk solids among other things. The researchers found out that particles (including cocoa) could take up a maximum of 64% of the volume of the chocolate, making fat constitute 36% of the volume. If the ratio shifted any further in cocoa’s favour, the liquid would stop flowing altogether, like the second coming of Augustus Gloop.
By applying an electric field along the flow direction, the normally spherical particles of cocoa (and sugar and whatnot) can be aggregated into short lines (also along the flow direction). These are referred to as “chocolate worms” by … nobody, nobody does that. This process reduces the viscosity along the direction of flow. It increases the viscosity in every other direction, but previous studies suggest this will improve the overall flow by reducing chocolate turbulence and preventing the formation of dreaded chocolate vortices.
In a controlled experiment, the fat level of the chocolate was reduced by over 10 percent with at most a measly 0.1 µA of current. Yes that’s right, 0.1 µA: time to break out the lunar panels and gentle breeze turbines. The current may have been even lower, 0.1 µA was just the researcher’s limit of measurement. A taste test revealed that this reduced-fat chocolate tasted better than fatty chocolate.
This is all well and good, but the added sugar in chocolate presents a much larger health concern than the fat. Furthermore, certain Hershey’s products replaced cocoa butter with vegetable oil to cut costs, suggesting that this is all actually a ploy to –
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