Leading manufacturer reveals new flavour of chocolate

Zurich-based company develops a new type of chocolate that is red in colour and contains no berry flavours.

The global chocolate market is worth just over USD 98 billion and chocolate is one of the most popular and widely consumed products in the world. With white chocolate, the third type of chocolate after dark and milk having launched back in the 1930s, Ruby is the first new flavour to be revealed in the last 80 years.

Ruby chocolate is made from the ruby cocoa bean through a unique processing that unlocks the flavour and colour naturally present in the ruby bean. No berries,  berry flavour or colour are added. The company behind the invention is Zurich-based Barry Callebaut Group, whose global R&D centres based in France and Belgium have spent years working with the Jacobs University to develop an innovative process that would reveal the unique attributes of the ruby bean.

The new chocolate offers consumers and those working in the food and beverage industries a whole new flavour. Unlike milk, dark and white, Ruby chocolate is silky and fruity, not sweet, bitter or milky. The berry flavour is all natural, as is the colour. It has already been tested by global research agencies Haystack and Ipsos, who have validated Ruby as a fourth type of chocolate. This discovery is a huge breakthrough for the chocolate and confectionery industries and it was unveiled in Shanghai on 5 September 2017 at an exclusive launch event.

Alongside this innovation, cocoa has been incredibly important across the globe. In Tokyo, the Chocolate Café offers 56 varieties of chocolate, all stacked in the style of a library, whilst in Australia a 3D printing company is gamifying exercise by printing chocolate according to how much the user worked out. Could this new flavour be the start of a whole host of new products, including Ruby cakes, bars and hot Ruby chocolate drinks?