Sweet for the planet: Green innovations in chocolate production and drone-enabled crop protection

05 Oct 2022 --- Indulging with a conscience is a robust trend here to stay. In the confectionery space, chocolate suppliers, flavor houses and food artisans are well aware of their shared footprint. FoodIngredientsFirst speaks to leading brands to showcase this year’s trends and developments in the space of planet-conscious production.

“Cocoa is a vulnerable crop. Weather conditions, pest and disease, land competition, farming standards, political factors, and poverty can all influence the quality and quantity of supply,” remarks Kate Clancy, group sustainability director, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate.

“Many smallholder farming households struggle to make a living from cocoa, and have limited access to the infrastructure, training and finance they need to invest in their farms and run a successful business, on and off farm,” she notes.

“Supporting farmers and their families to build socioeconomic resilience is therefore an essential precondition for securing the future of cocoa and helps ensure prosperity where cocoa is grown.”

Läderach has switched out dairy for cashew milk in its newest plant-based offering (Credit: Läderach).Innova Market Insights affirms that ethical practices and fair trade are increasingly addressed in chocolatey NPD. Products with fair trade and plant-based claims are also increasing, says the market researcher.

Dairy-free indulgence
Plant-based confectionery innovation continues to gather pace as consumers seek out this dairy-free option due to its perceived sustainability credentials.

Symrise’s latest edition of its proprietary consumer research Trendscope evidences that the demand for plant-based alternatives is indeed showing no signs of slowing. 

“Sustainability plays a big role, especially for the increasingly important consumer groups of Gen Zs. They are opting more and more for vegan alternatives when buying chocolate confectionery,” comments Annika Lafontaine, responsible category manager for Chocolate confectionery. 

“However, we know that all consumers are not willing to compromise on taste and are looking for the fantastic, soothing, melting indulgence that we all think of when it comes to chocolate – also when trying vegan alternatives.”

Domenik Spirer, vanilla product manager in the EAME region highlights that flavor house masters these particular challenges with its Symlife technology and sustainably sourced flavors – Bourbon Vanilla from Madagascar being at the forefront. “With these we support our customers’ sustainable chocolate products in any way – in traditional chocolate applications or plant-based alternatives.” 

Cargill, meanwhile, kicked off the year with the introduction of its Chocolate ExtraVeganZa line, a range of vegan chocolate and couverture chocolates, reflective of the increasing demand for vegan and plant-based options.

“To create the new line, our Chocolate Engineers identified key plant-based ‘power’ ingredients like sunflower kernel powder and rice syrup. These ingredients provide a distinctive taste and texture profile, enabling us to create vegan chocolate recipes that reimagine plant-based indulgence,” says Philippe Bernay, commercial marketing lead for Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate – Europe.

“The versatile offering can be used in an array of applications, including bakery, confectionery and dairy, as a substitute for regular chocolate. Further differentiating the line, our Chocolate ExtraVeganZa uses nut- and gluten-free ingredients.”

From its flagship FrischSchoggi (large slabs of fresh chocolate bark), tablet bars to chocolate covered popcorn, artisanal Swiss chocolate brand Läderach Chocolatier Suisse has unveiled new vegan chocolates in these varieties.

Drone technology is being applied across Ecuador’s cacao gardens to spray fungicides and fertilizers after rain, which helps alleviate labor shortages.In addition to existing pure and select dark chocolate with fruit and nuts, Läderach’s new vegan chocolates include cashew milk instead of dairy milk, coconut blossom sugar instead of sugar and no preservatives.

The coconut blossom sugar comes from Indonesia (organic quality), the cashew milk from Vietnam, and the cocoa beans from Ecuador and Ghana. Its product innovation is led by chocolate master Elias Läderach.

Drones to fight diseases
As the world's leading export of cacao, Ecuador is the top spot of high-quality cacao beans, the major ingredient of single-origin chocolates. Small farm owners account for over 90% of the cacao producers. However, the downward trend in cacao prices and the capricious weather have pushed more pressure on preserving yields.

To facilitate sustainable cacao production, XAG has introduced an agricultural drone adopted by cacao growers in Ecuador, which will offer relief to labor shortages during the busy season.

XAG's drone technology is being applied across Ecuador’s cacao gardens to spray fungicides and fertilizers after rains, protecting cacao fruit from yield loss due to diseases and pests that are prevalent during the wet season.

XAG’s local partner, Megadrone, dispatched an agricultural service team to deploy the drone technology on a 180-hectare cacao farm in Guayaquil, the second largest city of Ecuador.

The cacao farm is located on mountains and the sloped, undulating terrain makes it hard to reach by large ground machinery. Over the previous years, spraying crops and spreading fertilizers were mostly conducted by hired workers manually. It took at least a month to cover the whole fields even with sufficient labor.

During the operation, the XAG P Series Agricultural Drone was equipped with a full tank of foliar fertilizers and fungicides. It took off from the slope and flew over clusters of bushes to precisely spray on the cacao trees.

Due to the powerful downdraft under propellers, chemical droplets could be easily carried to the whole plant and cling to the leaves uniformly. Two sets of XAG agricultural drones were able to serve the entire 180-hectare cacao fruits in three to four days.

“XAG’s agricultural drone can be easily operated by most people. Before launching the drone, the pilot just plans the flight path and sets up parameters on a mobile app. This is convenient to learn even for our elderly workers,” comments a farm owner of the project.

In the coming three months, the cocoa plantations in Ecuador will enter a vital stage where foliar feeding and insecticide spraying are required for a bumper harvest of cacao pods. 

Palm oil-free remains a key positioning in chocolate as consumers remain wary of deforestation.New cacao innovations
“Palm-free” is a ubiquitous claim on the market, as consumers are increasingly wary of the impact palm oil production can have on deforested regions. This claim is addressed at Cargill’s newly expanded coatings and fillings production facility in Deventer, The Netherlands. The plant will add 60% to the volumes of coatings and fillings currently produced, with a particular focus on nut-free and sugar-reduced offerings.

This expansion is just the first of several projects in progress. “We have added to our Gerkens portfolio of cocoa powders, too. Gerkens DB400 cocoa powder taps into consumer demand for dark brown products with a strong chocolatey promise,” highlights Bernay.

“With its deep tonal aspects, dark richness and delicious taste, this distinctive cocoa powder was created using state-of-the-art Dutch processes and effective innovation capabilities, thus offering superior consistency in sensory experience.

To bring the product to market, Cargill invested in new processing capabilities at our Yopougon processing site in Ivory Coast, as part of a US$100 million expansion of the facility completed in 2021. “With the new technology in place, we are now equipped to supply the full range of our customers’ needs, from delicate light to intensely dark Gerkens cocoa powders,” says Bernay.

Gerkens Sweety cocoa powders another addition to Cargill’s line-up. These cocoa powders allow beverage manufacturers to hit the sweet spot for a trifecta of consumer demands: less sugar, natural reduction and great taste.

“Developed specifically for chocolate beverages, Sweety cocoa powders enable 30% sugar reduction. Cocoa powder is an ingredient that brings bitterness to the flavor of the final application and sugar is used to offset that bitterness. The Sweety cocoa powders are low in bitterness, with a strong well-balanced chocolaty flavor and a sweet perception,” says Bernay.

Finally, this year marked the opening of Cargill’s House of Chocolate, which FoodIngredientsFirst attended. This 6,200 square meter complex – built alongside the company's existing chocolate production plant – includes a state-of-the-art chocolate experience center, a unique pilot plant with sensory expertise, and creative workspace for its European R&D team of chocolate engineers. 

“It provides a place where customers can explore the entire world of chocolate under one roof, enabling them to taste, feel, smell and see chocolate in every form. At the House of Chocolate, customers can collaborate with our experts and leverage our resources to create products inspired by the latest trends. It is a place designed to bring ideas to life and quickly move them to the market,” notes Bernay.

By Benjamin Ferrer