Scientists have discovered a way to reduce
the amount of fat in chocolate while making
it taste even better. How? The answer may
shock you.
Clickbait jokes aside, this story is pretty
interesting. Temple University scientists
used an electric field to alter liquid chocolate
so that it flows more easily and doesn’t
clog up candy manufacturing machines. And
they didn’t employ a single Oompa Loompa.
A consulting firm working with chocolate behemoth
Mars Inc. approached the scientists for help.
Previously, Temple University researchers
had experimented with electric fields to reduce
the viscosity of crude oil and found success.
Could they do the same with chocolate? The
team designed a special chocolate-zapping
approach. First, you load your precious chocolatey
cargo into a melting chamber and seal it.
Then you pump nitrogen gas into the chamber
to increase the pressure. At the base of the
chamber is a tube with a series of metal mesh
screens. The melted chocolate flows through
the tube. The researchers used the screens
to apply an electric field in the same direction
as the flow of chocolate. The electric field
reshaped cocoa solids suspended in the liquid.
This is what made the chocolate flow more
easily. Normally, those cocoa solids are ball
shaped, which means there’s a lot of wasted
space when you try to pack them together.
But the electric field elongates the cocoa
particles, allowing them to snuggle up to
each other and reduce the liquid chocolate’s
viscosity. Then the team realized that reducing
the viscosity also means you could reduce
the fat in chocolate and still avoid clogging
up the machinery. Normally you’d need that
fat to help keep things loosey goosey. But
the electric field removes the necessity for
higher fat content. They tried it out and
discovered that, depending upon the chocolate,
they could remove up to 20% of the fat without
experiencing problems with viscosity. And
the team says some people think the chocolate
tastes better this way, with more pronounced
cocoa flavors. The bottom line is this approach
could help candy manufacturers keep their
equipment clog free while also giving them
the chance to reduce the amount of fat in
their products. Plus the candy might taste
even better. I’m not seeing a downside here!
Before I dash off to the candy store downstairs,
and we do have one, I want to tell you guys
about the HowStuffWorks Now podcast, hosted
by Lauren Vogelbaum. You can subscribe to
that show using your podcatching app of choice.
And don’t forget to visit now.howstuffworks.com
every day to learn about the tastiest stories
happening right now.
