CHOCOLATE SPECIAL .................Chocolate Now That Won't Melt in Your Hands

Chocolate Now That Won't Melt in Your Hands





Growing up, Frederic Depypere didn't fret much about messy chocolate. In rainy Belgium, the temperature rarely got high enough to melt a candy bar. But on a visit to steamy Shanghai five years ago, he realised that the chocolate swag from Belgium's pavilion at the World Expo would quickly turn into mush.“I thought if we want to bring a product to countries like China or India, we need to change something,“ said Depypere, a research and development manager at Barry Callebaut AG, the world's leading maker of bulk chocolate.

After years of research, Depypere today says he's ready to start selling chocolate that melts in the mouth, not in the hands. He says his team can make chocolate that can remain solid at temperatures as high as 38 degrees Celsius before melting -about 4 degrees warmer than most chocolate today .

The chocolate market in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and West Asia and Africa will grow more than 50% to $48 billion by 2019, versus 15% expansion to $74 billion in Western Europe and North America, researcher Euromonitor predicts.

While Callebaut is leading the race, Nestle is close behind. The maker of the KitKat and Cailler brands says it has developed chocolate that maintains its shape up to 40 degrees, and that products could hit shelves within three years.

Hershey has been researching the issue since World War 2 and could use a profit boost -it last week said earnings would fall short of targets. The company says it can start selling products that melt at 37.8 degrees and have the texture of classic chocolate within two years. Mondelez -maker of Oreo cookies -has filed a patent saying it can keep chocolate from melting at temperatures as high as 50 degrees.

For chocolatiers, the main problem has been making the stuff taste and feel like, well, chocolate. “One of the popular routes has been to modify the fat system so it melts at a higher temperature, but if the fat doesn't melt in the mouth, you're left with solid fat and it tastes like a candle,“ said Steve Whitehouse, a scientist with Nestle's research operation in York.

CORINNE GRETLER AND JAN SCHWALBE

Bloomberg