Hold onto your taste buds, chocoholics! An extraordinary breakthrough in chocolate manufacturing is on the horizon, and it’s as sweet as the cocoa it revolves around. Zurich researchers have discovered a way to transform the industry by using the husk and flesh of the cocoa bean pod to create a sugary syrup. This ingenious process could eliminate sugar from the equation and significantly reduce the biological waste involved in chocolate production.

Imagine picking up an apple, extracting the seeds, and discarding everything else – that’s essentially how chocolate production works currently. Cocoa beans, the star players in chocolate creation, are merely the seeds of their parent plant. The large, papaya-sized pod and its milky white flesh are typically discarded, left to rot under the sun. This wasteful practice results in thousands of tons of methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas.

But what if we could turn this waste into a wonder?

Enter Kim Mishra and his team from Zurich’s prestigious Federal Institute of Technology. They’ve managed to distill the juice from the discarded flesh into a concentrated syrup. Add in some pulp for thickness and even the husk, and voila! You get a deliciously chocolatey gel that’s perfect for making chocolate or as a sweetener. It’s packed full of simple sugars too – 14% by weight to be exact.

Mishra and his team aren’t just transforming the chocolate industry; they’re also addressing some deep-rooted problems faced by cocoa farmers. Poverty is rampant among these hardworking individuals, and cocoa bean prices are constantly on the rise. Their solution? “Instead of fighting over who gets how much of the cake, you make the cake bigger and make everybody benefit,” Mishra told [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn47zg3xgxxo.amp).

This revolutionary approach could provide cocoa farmers with extra income from utilizing cocoa pulp while also creating jobs and value in the country of origin.

Now, this cocoa gel isn’t exactly a cheap alternative – it’s nine times more expensive than sugar. However, most governments heavily subsidize the production of sugar, making it artificially cheaper. Without these subsidies, the cocoa gel would be a much more competitive option. Plus, Mishra has already been contacted by chocolate industry entities from three continents expressing interest in his invention.

So, what’s next for this chocolate revolution? Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure – this mega innovation is bound to stir up some excitement among all you chocoholics out there!

Also, don’t forget to check out how [Coffee Grounds Show Potential to Clean Up Common Water Contamination from Agriculture](https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/coffee-grounds-show-potential-to-clean-up-common-water-contamination-from-agriculture/). And learn about a better kind of agriculture where [Bird-Friendly Maple Syrup Boosts Vermont Forest Diversity and Resilience](https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/bird-friendly-maple-syrup-boosts-vermont-forest-diversity-and-resilience/).

So go ahead, share this sweet innovation with the chocoholics in your life!

A Peruvian farmer holds a cocoa bean pod – credit USAID / Bobby Neptune CC 2.0.
Source: Good News Network