The First Real Chocolate for Ice Cream
03 Feb 2012 | Barry Callebaut
This is the ISM in Cologne.
I'm here with Hans Prins, who's the chief innovation officer at Barry Calibot, and Barry Calibot are highlighting a number of new technologies here, including chocolate melts, which is a new, full chocolate for inclusion into ice cream.
Hans, can you explain a little bit about the technology and why this works?
Yeah, sure.
Choco melts is the first real chocolate for ice cream.
Every ice cream maker.
Knows the following problem.
If you have ice cream, of course, then you're operating in temperatures below zero.
And if you put chocolate in temperatures below zero, it gets very hard.
Chocolate normally of course melts at body temperatures around 37 °C, and that's why many people don't use chocolate in ice cream.
They use a compound in ice cream.
They use something with a softer vegetable fat, but of course.
Of the chocolate.
This is the first time people can really put chocolate into ice cream without it breaking your teeth.
Good news.
So the technology through which we do this is simple.
What we're trying to do here is temper the butter in a different way so that the chocolate stays soft even in the ice cream, and that means you can enjoy an ice cream with real chocolate in it.
You can imagine that many people.
Will enjoy eating real chocolate instead of a compound.
When can we begin to see commercial applications to this?
We already have a number of people who are working with this application, so I expect you'll see the first ice cream with real chocolate coming out this summer, and those will be the type of claims it will make on the pack.
They'll make claims saying real chocolate.
Are there any limitations on the type of chocolate that can be used?
Absolutely not.
You can make any chocolate you like and temper it this way and put it into ice cream.
So milk, dark and light.
OK, and you've also launched a new range of chocolates from Cameroon.
Can you say a little bit about this plan?
Yes, we're promoting Cameroon chocolate and Cameroon products because we're heavily invested in this region to try to get more cocoa produced in this country because the beans have a beautiful red quality and are very good taste wise.
So we're investing in this country to up cocoa supply and as a matter of fact we're bringing out a range of chocolates at the moment that have sort of a red hue to it which is typical of camel chocolate and very much sought after and that's what we're currently introducing at the.
What are you pushing the local farmers to do in order to change the process?
How are you adapting the chocolate?
We're not adapting the cocoa beans.
When they come out, we are not adapting the fermentation, which is perfectly done in Cameroon, but unfortunately in Cameroon there are some areas where there is lots of rain.
So many times it's difficult for the farmers to dry the beans, and if they want to dry quickly, they use diesel motors or motors to dry their beans.
And very often that doesn't just dry the beans, but also makes them smoky.
So many beans from Cameroon are a little smoky.
We are trying to Adapt that process and help them to dry it differently.
When we do that, we get perfectly red, nice big beans and we can make wonderful tasting separate chocolate.
When are we going to start seeing commercial applications of this?
You'll see it this year.
We actually have a line where we introduced chocolate with a red hue, and we're replacing a colorant that is currently used to make it a little red.
Hans, thank you very much.
