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Callebaut Unveils 100% Pure Cacao Fruit Chocolate

Hot on the heels of the announcement by Nestlé that it has devised a way to create chocolate sweetened with the pulp from cacao fruit, Barry Callebaut Group has unveiled its version, called WholeFruit Chocolate.

Yes, just like what happened when they introduced ruby chocolate, we've now got another new type of chocolate at our disposal. This one is described as "a pure, fresh, fruity delight made from one delicious ingredient" according to Callebaut.

Instead of using just the cacao beans in its chocolate production, it derives a sweetener from the remainder of the cacao fruit, used in the place of refined sugars.

The company claims it is "better for you than regular chocolate" as it only contains natural sugars.

Barry Calleabut WholeFruit Chocolate
Milk and dark chocolate made using sweeteners derived from cacao fruit. Photo credit to Barry Callebaut Group

What does it taste like?

WholeFruit Chocolate will be available in two variants - a dark 100% cacao fruit version called Bold as well as one that includes milk in the recipe and called Velvety. Food Maven suggests the dark contains 80% cocoa solids while the milk variant contains 60% solids.

According to Callebaut, the WholeFruit chocolates contains around 40% less sugar than the bestselling dark and milk chocolates. They are also richer in fibre and protein.

Callebaut Bold WholeFruit Chocolate ingredients:
Unsweetened chocolate, cacaofruit sugar, fructose (from cacaofruit pulp), dry cacao fruit juice concentrate.

Having not tasted this yet, I have to rely on the company's descriptions to judge the flavour. The flavour of the dark chocolate is that of deep chocolaty notes with a fresh fruitiness to it. The milk version is said to be creamy, with a mix of citrus and yellow fruit notes. It sounds to me that it's what you'd get if you mixed dark or milk chocolate and ruby chocolate together, forming a blend of traditional dark or milk chocolate flavours with a tangy, citrus edge.

The environment

Besides the health and taste benefits, WholeFruit chocolate also has the effect of lowering its impact on the planet.

Traditionally, as much as 70% of the cacao fruit is scrapped save for the valuable beans. WholeFruit chocolate makes use of more of the cacao pod pulp, minimising this type of food waste.

The economics

From a commercial perspective, I'd argue that there is also a cost saving in that there is less food waste created by this process to deal with, and there is no longer a need to rely on third-party sugars including those produced from canes and beets.

It also means Callebaut controls more of the costs in relation to this particular product. It should be noted that with great power comes great responsibility.

Where can I buy WholeFruit chocolate?

Despite the announcement in September 2019, Callebaut expects to start distribution to artisans and pastry chefs in the United States of America, Latin America, and Asia from May 2020. It needs to seek approval from European authorities but hopes it will be available in Europe between 2020 and 2022.

The company also plans to distribute this new type of chocolate to consumer brands from 2021, so expect to see a flurry of new products hitting our shelves made using cacao fruit chocolate.

Do you predict more consumers will choose chocolate made using 100% cacao fruit over regular varieties? Let me know in the comments below.

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