Scientists Develop Chocolate That Won't Melt At High Temperatures 161
Zothecula writes "One of life's less pleasant surprises is discovering the chocolate bar that you forgot you had in your pocket on a hot day. Two scientists working at Cadbury's research and development plant in Bourneville, U.K., are fighting that gooey surprise with the invention of chocolate that remains solid even when exposed to temperatures of 40 C (104 F) for more than three hours. Aimed at tropical markets, the 'temperature tolerant chocolate' is described in a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) patent application."
New slogan (Score:3)
Re:New slogan (Score:5, Insightful)
Except that it wouldn't melt in your mouth and thus probably also be less delicious than normal chocolate.
Feature not Bug! (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly: chocolate melting almost exactly at body temperature is a feature not a bug.
Re:Feature not Bug! (Score:5, Informative)
Not to mention that we developed anti-melting chocolate technology during WW2 called "M&Ms".
Re:Feature not Bug! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Feature not Bug! (Score:5, Funny)
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Tangential, but the story of how E.T. featured Reece's Pieces instead of M&Ms is a good yarn: http://www.snopes.com/business/market/mandms.asp [snopes.com]
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Not when you are eating the new iChocolate!
With a built-in non-swappable battery that heats it to 120 C ( 248 F ) while in your mouth so that it melts?
Re:New slogan (Score:5, Informative)
RTA:
Well, I won't spoil it for you.
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I had some of those bars, from mid-80s MREs. They were just awful: as one friend put it "the more you chew it, the bigger it gets".
If you thought of them as more akin to Tootsie Rolls than chocolate, they weren't so bad (though I'm not a fan of Tootsie Rolls, either).
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Good thing you weren't eating MRE's in the late 90's/early 2000's then, they often included tootsie rolls, and I hated those.
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Cadbury's approach is...
Well, I won't spoil it for you.
Aw, man. I had to click on the article.
Re:New slogan (Score:5, Informative)
You got it' It's why others that invented it years ago did not market it. It change the taste and mouth feel of chocolate. Test groups did not like it.
This is not a new invention, Back in 2009 another company already announced it.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2540765/Scientists-develop-new-type-of-chocolate-which-does-not-melt-in-the-mouth.html [thesun.co.uk]
Re:New slogan (Score:5, Informative)
I worked with/on Hershey's Desert Bar. In 1990.
http://www.hersheyarchives.org/essay/details.aspx?EssayId=39 [hersheyarchives.org]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonliebigstuff/7290674224/ [flickr.com]
It was processing the egg whites to withstand structural changes at higher temps.
I put one in a flame on a gas stove. It burned, did not melt.
They were tolerable to eat, but not great. Much like last year's halloween candy.
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But conventional Hershey's tastes like wax anyway. Why bother?
My preference is Theo or Kalila 85% +
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Your taste preference is not typical, so why bother?
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OMG! Won't anybody think of the chocolate?!
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Yeah I agree, how can anyone say Hershey's tastes like wax?! I mean the dead fish flavour is so overwhelming how can you taste anything else?
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no, they do not taste like fish. if you're going to keep bars in your back pocket, wash your ass.
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no, they do not taste like fish
Perhaps not to someone who doesn't know any better, but they sure do if you enjoy chocolate. Maybe closer to a bacterial throat infection than fish, I'll grant you that. Even Cadbury's tastes better, and you'd have to be down on your luck to eat their imitation chocolate.
Trust me, after my two (2) bites of a Hershey's (I was determined to finish it, but in the event I just couldn't summon up the strength), I won't be letting a bar of it come anywhere near my back, nor any
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I shouldn't even joke, the stuff is going to be old before it gets to Australia so isn't going to match fresh local or NZ stuff made with real sugar instead of corn crap, let alone something shipped refridgerated from Europe.
Rotten milk "chocolate" (Score:2)
And here I was just thinking that they taste like that due to six months at sea in an oil soaked shipping container before they get to my country :)
I did some research ... well I googled "what's the funny taste in hersheys" ... apparently they infect the milk and let it sour to give the product that unique flavour. Now I can't stand off milk (except when it's so off that it becomes yoghurt), so that probably explains why I couldn't stomach Hershey's. It also explains why it tastes so bacterial.
Apparentl
Re:New slogan (Score:5, Informative)
My preference is Theo or Kalila 85% +
Just in case you need to know, Ghirardelli is still good, Droste is still good, Lindt is now shit. This is relevant if you're looking for gourmet chocolate in a supermarket.
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I live 200 yards from a tree-hugger supermarket that sells a lot of fancy chocolate including Theo and Kalila.
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What has changed with Lindt? It's certainly not the most gourmet chocolate available but I haven't noticed a change over the years. No other gourmet brand is widely available in supermarkets where I'm from so it remains a staple. I tend to grab Camille Bloch from European importers when passing by.
Having tried Lindt in Switzerland I noticed no real difference (although not an A/B). On the other hand many English friends claim Cadbury in Australia is quite different (inferior of course) due to changes th
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What has changed with Lindt
It doesn't dissolve like it used to, I would describe it as "waxy". I've been eating it since I was a child, it has most definitely changed. Oddly, Ghirardelli didn't go downhill when they bought them, which is why I mention it. If anything, THEY have improved. I still prefer european chocolate in general, but Lindt no longer qualifies. I've been eating it for 20 years, so I think I know what I'm talking about.
Cadbury chocolate is inferior no matter where you buy it.
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Did you ever hear that there was any health consideration? - meaning that maybe it would be bad for you, like crisco / hydrogenated oil, because it too would have a higher melting point than much of the body temperature, and therefore clog-up the body channels
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Not that I was aware of.
However, it was egg whites not fat. So it wouldn't be similar to oils.
Cheese comparison (Score:2)
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we already have the cream fileed suffle that lasts on the order of geological time, the twinkie. The only long term threat to twinkes is proton decay, if such exists.
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It may actually be more delicious if in the Arctic (Score:2)
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Ok, new slogan
"Tastes like shit, but at least it doesn't melt in your hands"
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hush! the secret ingredient that makes it possible is a trade secret!
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There's always been a little shit in the chocolate.
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Reminds me of the chocolate they sell in the Caribbean and Central America, doesn't melt as fast but loaded with tons of sugar to ruin the taste.
Re:New slogan (Score:4, Funny)
chocolate that remains solid even when exposed to temperatures of 40 C (104 F) for more than three hours
If your mouth is 104 F you might want to see a doctor!
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Ah yes, "Hot Mouth Disease" can be pretty awful.
Re:New slogan (Score:5, Funny)
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Melts in your Mouth. Not in your pocket.
Melts in an oven. Not in your intestines.
Re:New slogan (Score:5, Interesting)
My wet-blanket reply of the day follows.
The primary mechanism for chocolate breakup in your mouth is dissolving (and some early enzymatic breakup), not melting. If you really waited around for even soft chocolates to melt at 37-ish degrees Celsius, you would not have a good time.
What would matter to the consumers of this new chocolate,then, would be its texture and dissolution rate, not its melting temperature.
Bournville (Score:2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bournville [wikipedia.org]
Can't wait to try it (Score:4, Interesting)
From TFA : Temperature tolerant chocolate has been around since the 1930s, but it sucks because it becomes too hard and tastes bad.
I can't wait to try a bar of this stuff and compare it to the normal kind. Obviously, since it doesn't melt in your mouth, it won't be the same, but if it is soft and easy to chew, and disolves in saliva, maybe the eating experience will be similar.
Personally, I find the most enjoyable chocolate to be Hershey's Symphony bars that have been frozen.
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Personally, I find the most enjoyable chocolate to be Hershey's Symphony bars that have been frozen.
If your favorite chocolate is Hershey's anything, the only explanation is that you've never tasted chocolate.
Hershey's chocolate isn't chocolate. I'm not saying this in an elitist, "it's so bad you can't consider it chocolate way." I mean, they don't use cacao, which is definition of chocolate.
this is clearly false (Score:5, Informative)
If you look at a Hershey chocolate bar, it does in fact have "chocolate" listed in the ingredient list, which is by definition made from cacao.
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There are two possible interpretations here: the previous post was wrong, or the US has a definition of "chocolate" that specifies a much lower level of cocoa solids than the rest of the civilized world and thus should not be considered chocolate by anyone with working taste buds.
Actually, you're wrong on both counts. I believe the word "chocolate" in the U.S. implies a minimum of 10% cacao solids, while in the EU, you can label anything with at least 1% to be "chocolate."
The difference isn't the definition, where the US is actually more strict. The difference is the EU requires the percentage to appear on the label, so those "civilized" nations just have more information to make choices among snooty chocolate. (For the record, I personally love gourmet chocolate, but milk choc
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more strict, maybe, but no thanks to hershey's and several other industry groups who (unsuccessfully) lobbied like hell to get the fda to relax its definition to allow hydrogenated vegetable oils, circa 2007-09.
after failing to get away with it, hershey's changed many of their bars to mockolate anyway. for example, mr. goodbar is now "made with chocolate and peanuts" [sparkpeople.com] instead of "peanuts in milk chocolate" [alprunty.com].
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soy lecithin doesn't replace cocoa butter; it's an additive in relatively small amounts that makes the mouthfeel smoother/creamier. the snobbiest of chocolates don't use soy lecithin, but some good chocolates do, not just mass market crap.
the bigger problem is hydrogenated vegetable oil replacing cocoa butter. hating that doesn't make you a snob, it just means that your taste buds are functional.
Unless you have a high fever, chewing crayons (Score:3)
Not going to melt in your mouth unless you have a high fever.
So it's going to be like chewing on chocolate flavored crayons.
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Well, if you got this chocolate to your body temperature in your mouth, is there any reason why your saliva still wouldn't *dissolve* it?
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Fats don't dissolve in water.
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So it will be like eating a Hershey's bar?
Obligatory Warning (Score:5, Funny)
If your chocolate bar remains hard for more than four hours, please see a confectioner.
A gooey surprise... (Score:2)
Mandatory reading for all chocolate threads (Score:3)
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Regarding cheap chocolate, here's the opposite end of the spectrum: Most Expensive Chocolate [most-expensive.net].
My life is now complete (Score:3)
Although, unfortunately, I can't say I've ever forgotten about a chocolate bar that's in my possession.
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Does it taste better than a D-Bar? (Score:1)
High temperature chocolates are not new. In WWII, the US Military created emergency rations in the form of chocolate bars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_chocolate [wikipedia.org]) that remained solid up to 120 degrees. It was kind of an in-joke how unpalatable they were, but this was part of the design. As an emergency ration, they wanted you to have to be *really* hungry before you ate them.
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110F chocolate already exists, and I've made it (Score:3, Interesting)
a less pleasant surprise (Score:3)
Is when that's not chocolate in your pocket after all ;-)
Melting (Score:3)
Isn't one of the "good" characteristics of chocolate is that it begins to melt in your mouth? If it doesn't melt at 104F, I don't see it melting in my mouth.
Except that is the USP of Chocolate. (Score:1)
Woo hoo!! (Score:1)
Shatters when cold (Score:4, Informative)
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Mexico already has this (Score:3)
Great (Score:2)
There would be a lot of uses for a material that won't melt at high temperatures for example a heat shield for spacecraft reentry, or containment vessel for nuclear reactors
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There are many fewer needs for such a material to also be a food. That is why existing materials (Ni-based alloys and such) are already employed to meet these needs. Yes, there is ongoing research into improving the materials available, but (to my knowledge) no one has added the requirement of "must be delicious".
This sounds as scary as... (Score:4, Funny)
McDonald's french fries that do not spoil.
Great for clogging arteries (Score:3)
The Hostess Void (Score:3)
This is a conspiracy... (Score:3)
I shall sculpt the prior-est art (Score:3)
Slow-melting chocolate vibrators. My idea. MINE!
Cadbury makes chocolate? (Score:2)
Who knew! I thought Cadbury just made disgusting sugar laden junk food.
Is this like the tropical chocolate bar (Score:2)
That the US Army started issuing during WWII?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_chocolate#The_Tropical_Bar [wikipedia.org]
mark "eventually, it gets crumbly"
Change the packaging, not the product (Score:2)
Melted chocolate coming out of flat, squeezable plastic thing would be better than chocolate with strange chemical properties. For troops in the field, have an outer plastic wrapper so that they can put the inner plastic part in their mouth and squeeze out all the product without having to get dust and grime in their mouth. Oh, better yet don't make the inner wrapper plastic. Make it an edible product that's flexible but tasteless. How about gel caps full of chocolate? There would probably be too much
But But... (Score:2)
How will scientists detect microwaves now?
Better Eating through Chemistry (Score:2)
The ad writes itself (Score:2)
No mention of predicessors (Score:3)
Through the entire article, and up-voted slashdot comments, not a single mention of the WWII era TROPICAL BAR?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_chocolate#The_Tropical_Bar [wikipedia.org]
1943 (Score:2)
Hey slashdot, 1943 called. They want their story back!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_chocolate#The_Tropical_Bar [wikipedia.org]
Chocolate Palace (Score:3)
Can I have a Chocolate palace now Mr Wonka?
name for the new chocolate (Score:2)
call it soylent brown.
Re:1st Iraq war???? (Score:5, Insightful)
You'd have found it was just a remake of the WWII era tropical bars. I ate a couple (of the modern remakes, I was in .mil in the 90s). It was icky.
You know how cheap american chocolate (Hersheys) is like room temperature brown colored Crisco? The tropical stuff was basically the same stuff but a texture / mouth feel more like refrigerated brown Crisco.
I imagine this "invention" is about the 4th generation re-invention. Food science is just like IT, every decade or two, the same old ideas get lipstick and a new dress on the old pig and a big announcement about the new baby, while the old timers roll their eyes, not that crap again....
Re:1st Iraq war???? (Score:4, Interesting)
Hershey's tastes like brown paraffin wax.
I had a bar of Dairy Milk for the first time in a long while last week. It too was like wax. I suspect that quality has suffered since Kraft bought them out.
I stopped liking their mainstream products anyway - the cocoa solids content, at only 22%, isn't really worthy of the name "chocolate", but at least the mouth feel was OK previously.
They also own Green & Blacks, who produce some very nice everyday chocolate. Their milk starts at 34% cocoa solids, and they do bars all the way up to 70% and 80%.
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They also own Green & Blacks, who produce some very nice everyday chocolate. Their milk starts at 34% cocoa solids, and they do bars all the way up to 70% and 80%.
Everyday chocolate. Now that's what I call life.
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Re:What do you think we have now? (Score:4, Informative)
Exactly. I'm living in a tropical (African) country, and have eaten both Indian Cadbury's (they call it "Silk") chocolate, and the local stuff. The Cadbury stuff is better, but still not as good as, say, Australian Cadbury chocolate. The local stuff is cheap and nasty, but also won't melt in your pocket. All the imported stuff just gets really soft if you leave it out at room temperature. Room temperature here is normally about 25 to 30 degrees.
Personally, I just keep chocolate in the fridge. It just works. And if I'm going somewhere I don't have a fridge, I just don't take chocolate, there are heaps of alternatives for sweet thing.
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Whats the point of candy that won't melt in your mouth?
I take it you don't have noisy children...
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GI Joe tossed you a salad, eh?