Israeli-based tech start-up Celleste Bio has unveiled a milk chocolate bar made using real cocoa butter grown in a bioreactor.
Celleste Bio has developed a technology capable of producing chocolate-grade cocoa butter that is bio-identical to conventionally sourced cocoa butter.
Food company Mondelēz International, owner of Cadbury and Toblerone, has now used this lab-grown cocoa butter to make a dozen chocolate bars. While these bars may look like the real deal, would this chocolate taste as good as the genuine article? Indeed, no difference was detected in terms of texture, melt profile and sensory experience.
Having achieved this milestone, Celleste Bio now expects to scale production of its cocoa butter to market-ready quantities within the next two years.
Cocoa is traditionally grown in tropical regions near the equator, but climate change, deforestation and geopolitical issues are threatening the supply of cocoa beans used to produce cocoa butter.
Michal Beressi Golomb, CEO at Celleste...