Chocolate of the future could be brewed like beer

DECLINING cocoa harvests and exploding demand mean chocolate could be brewed like beer in the future to make it cheaper and more sustainable, say industry experts.

- BY JAYMI MCCANN

Cocoa being harvested traditionally

Precision fermentation, which uses engineered yeasts to produce similar qualities to cocoa beans, is being looked into by Diffusion, a science marketing consultancy.

The process, which forms similar fats, proteins and flavour compounds found in cocoa, is hoped to stop the reliance on bean crops, which are affected by weather, climate change and disease.

Scientists give the yeast a piece of DNA that acts as a map to help them create something similar to cocoa.