The world's largest processor of cocoa, Barry Callebaut AG, has introduced the newest, natural chocolate hue in over 80 years. This new Chocolate has been named ruby chocolate, due to its pink hue and fruity flavor. The company has already seen a lot of success with ruby chocolate, which is great news for the cocoa industry.
The discovery of ruby chocolate
The first possibility for ruby chocolate was discovered in cocoa beans 13 years ago. Since then, there has been a lot of work being put into the process of making this new product.
The cocoa beans used to make ruby chocolate are found on the Ivory Coast, Brazil, and Ecuador.
The unusual color comes from powder that is extracted during processing. There are already red cocoa powders that have been made, but this is the first time this hue has been naturally found.
While it would be possible to recreate the chocolate synthetically, it would very difficult to get the same color and flavor. Plus, it already has the ultimate perk of occurring through natural means.
The importance of ruby chocolate in the chocolate industry
The Swiss have discovered an entirely new kind of chocolate – with a colour unlike any other you've ever seen https://t.co/3J2ehnPOCV
— Financial Times (@FT) September 5, 2017
While it might not occur to us to think of this sweet as an industry, there's definitely an industry in cocoa beans.
And lately, these numbers have been going down. As a result of a decline in the chocolate business, Hershey has been cutting staff and Nestle has been trying to sell its United States-based chocolate business. This also impacts farmers on the Ivory Coast. However, ruby chocolate opens up a whole new market.
The product has already been tested out in the United Kingdom, the United States, China, and Japan.
Surprisingly, the new chocolate has done very well in China. The chocolate business has had a rough time selling in China, but the color of ruby chocolate is very appealing to the Chinese market.
Since the new release, Barry Callebaut shares have increased by 1.1%. This is big for the cocoa industry, as there has been a surplus for quit some time now.
Hopefully the mystery of this new product can help bring more business to these companies.
While it might take some time for ruby chocolate to take off globally, we can still imagine seeing it used to make pink Valentine's Day chocolates and for other appealing holidays around the world. This new food product is very different from what we've seen before. It's colorful, it's natural, it's definitely something that humans, especially millennials, have extreme potential to be attracted to. Ruby chocolate is definitely an item to be looking out for.
