Chocolate with a low-fat center might still feel luxurious to eat

The fat on the outside of chocolate may be key to its mouthfeel, suggesting fat content could be reduced in the center without compromising feel

Through Matthew Sparkes

According to the researchers, chocolates with a high-fat exterior but a low-fat center could provide the same great taste and melty consistency, but with fewer calories.

To explore the factors that determine the mouthfeel of chocolate, Anwesha Sarkar at the University of Leeds, UK, and his colleagues used a artificial tongue 3d printed in silicone to mimic the texture and elasticity of the human tongue.

The melting of fat in the mouth produces droplets that are believed to create the pleasant feel and texture of chocolate. The team discovered that the fats on the surface of chocolate are the most vital of all. After that, the solid cocoa particles in the chocolate become important for the experiment.

“What we realized is that fat is definitely a very important material [to the enjoyable taste of chocolate]but you don’t need to distribute the fat [throughout the chocolate], says Sarkar. “The main point where fat content matters is the surface layer. Once you start eating chocolate, breaking it down into pieces, you don’t benefit as much from the fat content.

Sarkar says this should make it possible to create chocolates with fat only on the surface, which would still have a nice melty feel, but with fewer calories inside.

If the mechanics of eating are better understood, it will be possible to design healthier foods that retain pleasurable tastes and experiences, she says. But it’s too early to say exactly how much fat can be removed from chocolate before taste is compromised.

Barry Smith at the School of Advanced Study in London says he is skeptical that a fatty coating alone can provide the same sensation as regular chocolate.

“Ideally, you could redistribute the fat, have it on the outside and not go through it, and somehow achieve the structure you want with the rate of melting doing perfectly what it’s supposed to do. , but it’s very, very hard to achieve,” he said. said.

“Eating a piece of chocolate is a multi-sensory experience. You have to have texture, smell, taste, all sorts of alignments in order to offer this little time sequence of going from something solid to something smooth and gooey in this luxurious way. It’s tricky to put them together. So I don’t think messing with a single parameter is a guaranteed path here.

The researchers believe the physical techniques employed in the study could be used to study other foodstuffs that undergo a phase change – when a substance changes from a solid to a liquid, for example – such as ice cream, margarine or cheese.