World's Newest Chocolate Is Pink

'Ruby chocolate' is said to be fruity and 'refreshing'
By Linda Hervieux,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 6, 2017 11:05 AM CDT
World's Newest Chocolate Is Pink
Ruby chocolate is naturally colored from ruby cocoa beans.   (Barry Callebaut)

A Swiss company has laid claim to inventing a new kind of chocolate—and it's pink. "Ruby chocolate," made from ruby cocoa beans, is being hailed as the first new type of naturally hued chocolate since the white version hit the market more than 80 years ago, Bloomberg reports. In a news release, maker Barry Callebaut calls the sweet treat, debuted in Shanghai on Tuesday, "an intense sensorial delight" with "a tension between berry-fruitiness and luscious smoothness." The company's scientists stumbled on the idea 13 years ago while studying ruby cocoa beans, sourced from the Ivory Coast, Ecuador, and Brazil, per Bloomberg. The color comes naturally from the powder extracted from the beans, with no additives. Adding some dye to white chocolate wouldn't produce the same flavor, the company says.

While the Independent notes time will tell if the pink product is the next new thing or a marketing ploy, CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique tells Bloomberg the "hedonistic" arrival strikes "a nice balance that speaks a lot to millennials." So how does it taste? Chocolate writer Angus Kennedy tells the Sun he liked the creamy texture, noting, "It tastes so light and fruity you don't really realize you're gobbling up one chocolate [after] the other." He adds, "Whether this a good or bad thing depends on your point of view." Industry insiders hope ruby chocolate can kick-start an industry badly in need of it: Nestle has its US chocolate arm on the block, and Hershey has slashed 15% of its workforce, per Bloomberg. (Almost half of Americans aren't sure where chocolate milk comes from.)

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