Microbe research suggests there's no bar on new chocolate flavours

Researchers have shed fresh light on a key ingredient that could lead to new flavours of chocolate.

- Nicola Davis

They claim to have unpicked how and why bacteria and fungi involved in the fermentation of cocoa beans influence the taste of the product.

"We understand now what microbes we need and what they're doing. And I think that opens up the opportunity...to be a lot more directed [about] how we make our chocolate in terms of its flavour," said Prof David Salt, co-author of the work from the University of Nottingham.

Writing in the journal Nature Microbiology the team report how they studied beans fermented at cocoa farms in three different regions of Colombia - Santander, Huila and Antioquia.