Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Swiss Chocolate Makers are working hard to ensure that a warmer world will still be able to enjoy premium chocolate treats.
According to The Daily Meal;
Swiss Chocolatier Barry Callebaut Creates Heat-Resistant Chocolate to Survive Global Warming
Swiss chocolate company Barry Callebaut has created heat-resistant chocolate in an effort to expand to more tropical climates.
Other chocolate companies, like Nestlé and Hershey, are also developing heat-tolerant chocolates to sell in warmer regions.
In an effort to introduce its products to new markets, including warmer climates, Swiss chocolate company Barry Callebaut has introduced commercially available heat-resistant luxury chocolate, a new blend that can resist temperatures up to 38 degrees Celsius or 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit — four degrees higher than normal.
As someone who lives on the Southern edge of the Australian tropics, I see this as an important development in food technology. My wife keeps all her chocolate in the fridge, which cuts down space for storing beer fresh vegetables. If this new kind of chocolate can be stored outside of the fridge, it will reduce pressure on me to buy a bigger fridge, which will help save the planet.
They had heat resistant chocoloate in c-rations for the Army in the 1970’s and 80’s. They invented it much earlier. This is not news.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_chocolate
“In 1943, the Procurement Division of the Army approached Hershey about producing a confectionery-style chocolate bar with improved flavor that would still withstand extreme heat for issue in the Pacific Theater. After a short period of experimentation, the Hershey company began producing Hershey’s Tropical Bar. The bar was designed for issue with field and specialty rations, such as the K ration, and originally came in 1-ounce (28 g) and 2-ounce (56 g) sizes. After 1945, it came in 4-ounce (112 g) D ration sizes as well. … In 1957, the bar’s formula was changed to make it more appetizing. The unpopular oat flour was removed, ‘non-fat milk solids’ replaced ‘skim-milk powder’, ‘Cocoa powder’ replaced ‘cacao fat’, and artificial vanilla flavoring was added. It greatly improved the flavor of the bar, but it was still difficult to chew.
…
In the late 1980s, the US Army’s Natick Labs created a new high-temperature chocolate (dubbed the “Congo Bar” by researchers) that could withstand heat in excess of 140 °F (60 °C).
During Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, Hershey’s Chocolate was the major manufacturer, shipping 144,000 bars to American troops in the southwest Asia theater.”
So this new chocolate “melts in your mouth, not due to Man”?
Should that be “Mann” with two n’s?
Is this another case of the story’s author (Karen Lo) being cavalier and letting their bias shine through? Did the chocolate makers specifically mention “global warming” and “climate change” as reasons for creating more heat-tolerant chocolate, or is it just about opening up possibilities (like more lax storage requirements and expansion into new markets)?
No. Here is a direct quote from their website:
The greenwash is strong with this company.
In that case it’s another example of doing a good thing (making more heat-resistant chocolate) for the all the wrong reasons (to “combat” “global warming”/”climate change”).
That doesn’t say this chocolate was created to resist “global warming”. Deebodk is right : That detail was most probably added by the journalist. What Callebaut wants is “to expand to more tropical climates”.
Climate change and our endless efforts to combat it, allows mankind to act as stupid as he possibly can. I think in some quarters this is called freedom.
I believe this chocolate issue is an elite-world problem.
I volunteer in Washington State to work on trails – think steep mountains, rain, mud, rocks, fallen trees to be cut out (aka, “a logout”). Lots of fun.
At break-times we get treats – mostly little candy bars with chocolate. Sometimes it has melted on the front seat of the crew leader’s truck. Maybe next it gets chilled in a cooler with ice. Repeat.
No one ever thinks it is anything but great.
My preference is sipping chocolate. So any attempt at sending me regular chocolate if I am in Aruba, Mexico will be appreciated. And devoured immediately.
Aruba or Mexico. Do they have Montezuma’s revenge in Aruba?
Better stock up. Studies “show” that cocoa is threatened by “climate change”. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-could-melt-chocolate-production/
The children aren’t going to know what chocolate is.
Since it is not April 1, I must believe this is not a hoax. It is becoming more crazy all the time. I didn’t know that a Callebaut scion (original Callebaut is a Belgian company) now engages in nonsense like this, unless he believes that there is a ‘marketing’ advantage to sell more chocolate to the gullible green crowd.
They merged a few years ago with Barry and moved the headquarters to Switzerland, most of the research and production still is in Belgium, I suppose… But to call them a “Swiss” chocolate maker???
Some chocolatiers add paraffin to their product to raise the softening point and to add a sheen to the surface finish. It ends up looking (and tasting) rather like a brown crayon.
No product should be needed to give a sheen to chocolate. It’s moulded into shapes and the moulds have a high polish. The chocolates then have a high sheen naturally.
Does WordPress purposefully load those enormous video ads onto your site to jam the system. Your site now slows everything and often jams. Maybe to force people away?
And I thought I wasted money.
Isn’t it generally the case that the higher the melting point of a fat, the easier it is to sludge the blood cells and cause angina? The food police should be all over this one!
The new melt-resistant Swiss Chocolatier Barry Callebaut’s Heat-Resistant, Global Warming-Resistant chocolate was developed by introducing vulcanized rubber into the chocolate. It makes the chocolate taste foul, but what the heck, it’s fighting Global Warming which is the big aim these days.
‘Climate change is just like a box of chocolates Forest; you never know what you’re gonna get’
except screwed over by the green machine
Not a moment too soon. In the 50s and 60s, summer in Adelaide meant chocolate paste. And my aunt in England used to send us selections of English chocolate bars (Mars, Bounty, etc.) as Christmas presents. They came by sea mail, and usually arrived in January. Let your imagination do the rest.
A really catastrophic result of global warming: butter becomes a drink.
Mongolians and Tibetans will be delighted – when th butter has turned rancid that is…
Speaking of albedo…Anyone remember The Milky Bar Kid?
Ignorance is so much fun. Do they not know that a warmer climate only means longer summers and milder shorter winters? That means linger growing season and less expensive heating bill in winter. That’s all it takes to raise the average temperature. Heat waves and cold snaps would still occur and they can occur at any time. One of the worst heat waves in Maine occurs during the 1970s when we were in the coldest part of the recent climate swing.
Swiss Chocolatier Barry Callebaut is just trying to expand into more markets, they do not mention global warming. The Daily Meal headline does push global warming and is designed to appeal to stupid which is what media headlines do as a matter of course.
This news media behavior of promoting ignorance is one of the more serious dangers of Climate Change.
“Which will help save the planet?” And 18 morons (at this time) give the story a unanimous 5/5 rating? We’ll do something about that…
That extra 1/100th of a degree is a real killer.
I OK with this if the chocolate melts in my mouth but stays out of my tropics.