The color doesn't derive from any articificial ingredient or berries. It's completely natural.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on May 2, 2020. It has since been updated.
White chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate have got a new competitor and it is likely to surpass their popularity. Why? Because it is Ruby pink in color.
The ruby chocolate made its debut in 2017 by the hands of the Swiss manufacturer and creator Barry Callebaut. Each bite of the pink chocolate bar has a fruity, berry-like flavor, thanks to the Ruby cocoa beans the chocolate is made from. The Ruby bean grows in countries like Ecuador, Brazil, and the Ivory Coast; those specific beans, along with a unique manufacturing process, create this one-of-a-kind chocolate, reports The Guardian.
“The fourth type [of] chocolate offers a totally new taste experience, which is not bitter, milky or sweet, but a tension between berry fruitiness and luscious smoothness,” Barry Callebaut said in a press release. “To create Ruby chocolate, no berries or berry flavor, nor color, is added.”
“Ruby chocolate answers the consumer’s need for hedonistic indulgence, meaning the quest of ultimate pleasure. Its unmatched taste is an intense sensorial delight because of the tension between berry fruitiness and smoothness,” claims the website.
The last time natural color chocolate was invented was almost 80 years ago by Nestle. Barry Callebaut spent about 10 years developing its own recipe for ruby chocolate, CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique told Bloomberg.
“It’s natural, it’s colorful, it’s hedonistic, there’s an indulgence aspect to it, but it keeps the authenticity of chocolate,” Saint-Affrique said. “It has a nice balance that speaks a lot to millennials.”
Peter Boone, chief innovation and quality officer for Barry Callebaut said, “We don’t add flavorings, we don’t add coloring or additives: it’s purely coming out of this bean, and it's all-natural,” he said. “It’s a dedication to years of research into the artisanal processes of making chocolate. But it was also luck that we found this potential in the bean 13 years ago.”
“It perfectly matches the food trends now, so I think the market will respond very positively to it,” he added.
Early market research had shown a particularly high interest in China, a country not normally known for its chocolate consumption, but the company said there was huge enthusiasm from customers all around the world, according to The Guardian.
You don't have to worry when you have a 3 Some with #3SomeChocolates. Indulge in our Ruby and White Chocolate Velvet Cookie Crunch Bar. Your taste buds will never be the same.
— 3 Some Chocolates (@3SomeChocolates) February 7, 2019
Music You Don't Have to Worry by Doris Kelly#ValentinesDay #RubyChocolate #foodie #FoodPorn pic.twitter.com/MsbB09tLrw
Sarah Phillips, who runs one of the most popular food-related Instagram accounts said, “It’s fun, it looks beautiful and I think it will be a big hit,” said Phillips. “There’s a real appetite for colorful foods now, everybody’s into rainbow smoothies and cakes on Instagram and all the brightly colored smoothies and Buddha bowls that look like paintings. It’s a huge trend that’s only been getting bigger over this year."
#Breaking: Next stop: USA & Canada! 🎉 #RubyChocolate Is Coming to the U.S. From Switzerland: https://t.co/YCmfVMGnwy (via @business) pic.twitter.com/UhtvPDEI0v
— Raphael Wermuth (@raphaelwermuth) May 14, 2019
Phillips continued, “If they can definitely prove this is the all-natural coloring – and if it definitely tastes nice – then I think it will be really popular.”
Boone said he had hoped the pink chocolate would become as popular as dark, milk, and white in the future.
And it would be no surprise if it really did because who would not like a bar of pink chocolate or pink chocolate syrup on their shakes and cakes?
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Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Ross Tomei
