Cacao-free chocolate is in the pipeline, but it won't taste the same
With the future of cacao bean production uncertain, chocolatey chunks made from fermented sunflower seeds may soon appear in our biscuits.
As climate change threatens cacao plantations, chocolate manufacturers are investigating "cacao-free pathways" to meet global demand.
Currently, the best options are chocolatey products either grown in labs or produced from fermented plants, according to new research by New Zealand's Rabobank. But connoisseurs won't find their taste an exact match, warns research analyst Paul Joules.
"It can be close. But obviously, those who have very specific taste buds will know exactly what they're looking for, and it probably won't be exactly that," he tells RNZ's Nine to Noon.
Because it only grows close to the equator, cacao is "a very volatile crop", says Paul Joules.
Pablo Merchan Montes / Unsplash
Kiwis adore chocolate, but with the average price for a 250-gram block now sitting at $6.89, it's on the way to becoming a luxury item.
In the West African countries of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, where 60 percent of cacao beans are produced, bad weather, ageing cacao plantations and crop disease have had a "big, big impact" on the chocolate market in recent years, Joules says.
"The fact that cacao does have to be grown in close proximity to the equator really makes it a very volatile crop in terms of its production. It only really works in very specific countries and very specific climates."
Faux-co: Alternative chocolate production on the rise
How big chocolate companies are trying to shore up cacao production and explore alternatives is the subject of Rabobank's recent global 'Beyond the Bean'.
Although a synthetic chocolate product made in a Californian lab was deemed "basically indistinguishable from regular dark chocolate" by a Guardian writer last year, recreating chocolate in a laboratory is still too expensive and energy-intensive, Joules says.
Mt Maunganui chocolate company Solomons Gold makes dark chocolate with ethically sourced beans from the Solomon Islands.
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To produce a chocolate-like substance without cacao beans, he says the fermentation of grains and seeds, including oats, sunflower seeds and barley, is looking like the best bet.
Without the magic bean that gives chocolate its health benefits, distinctive creamy texture and "very unique" taste, fermented chocolate alternatives can't deliver quite the same taste, though, he warns.
"You can't completely replicate it, particularly if you're fermenting. That's actually one of the key issues.
"There are some who've tasted and said, 'Well, the taste, it's close, but it's not quite there. There are reports that it can be quite a bit more bitter.
"It can be close. But obviously, those who have very specific taste buds will know exactly what they're looking for, and it probably won't quite be exactly that."
Cacao is also produced around the Pacific in Samoa, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu.
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In the next few years, we'll likely see chocolatey fermented products turn up as an ingredient in biscuits and cereal bars, Joules says.
Traditional cacao-based chocolate, though, remains the cheapest to produce, and will thankfully be around for a while longer.
"The lion's share of the market is very much the traditional cocoa bean… That typical chocolate bar is probably going to continue to be [made from] your standard cocoa bean."
