NUS scientists make caffeine-free 'chocolate' with non-cocoa plant

With cocoa getting more costly and being threatened by climate change, food scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have found ways to make cocoa-free chocolate alternatives taste more like the real deal.

- Chin Hui Shan

Associate Professor Liu Shao Quan (left) and PhD student Manfred Ko are part of a team from NUS' Department of Food Science and Technology which has found ways to make chocolate alternatives using carob, a naturally sweet plant that mimics some chocolate-like notes, taste more like cocoa chocolate.

(ST PHOTOS: HESTER TAN)

Cocoa alternative from a plant known as carob (Ceratonia siliqua) has been touted as a substitute for cocoa chocolate for several reasons, including how it is naturally sweet and also mimics some chocolate-like notes.

This comes amid price surges in cocoa that are reportedly caused by severe supply disruptions in West Africa that account for about 70 per cent of global cocoa production. The disruptions could be due to extreme weather events such as drought, as well as plant diseases.

Carob, in comparison, is a hardy, climate-resilient plant that can thrive in hot and arid climates. It is also caffeine-free and rich in a compound that has been shown to have anti-diabetic effects.

But a major hurdle for its wider adoption lies in its flavour, which mostly still falls short of the cocoa taste. While carob is naturally sweet and has a caramel-like taste, it lacks other flavours such as the bitterness found in cocoa, said the NUS researchers.

"There's a big gap between current carob-based chocolate alternatives and cocoa chocolate, with missing notes such as cocoa's bitter, nutty and roasty flavours," said Associate Professor Liu Shao Quan from the Department of Food Science and Technology (FST) at the NUS Faculty of Science.

Conventional carob-based chocolate alternatives are first made by directly roasting the carob pulp, followed by grinding, refining and conching, keeping the original taste of roasted carob pulp powder mostly intact, said the team led by Prof Liu.