There are very few people who don't love chocolate! But have you ever thought about the reason behind the universal feelings of enjoyment while biting into a chocolate piece? In a nutshell, which component makes chocolate enjoyable? The sweetness or the bitterness? Or maybe it's the crunch. Or all of the above? Food scientists have pondered upon the question and are now close to creating the perfect piece of chocolate, using innovative technology.

The Futuristic Chocolate

Recently, a team of scientists at the University of Amsterdam attempted to use geometry and physics to accurately answer the above-mentioned questions and to create a chocolate that's even more enjoyable. The result of their research so far is a unique, 3D-printed. spiral-shaped chocolate candy, which doesn't resemble anything we can see on the supermarket shelves, but may just change the future of chocolate as well as food!

The Research Project

This specific research is part of a broader field of study including edible meta-materials and these 3D chocolates are the first step in creating metafoods. The research is led by Corentin Coulais, a physicist working with non-food meta-materials, materials with non-natural properties and structures, at the University. With the experience of working in the fields like prosthetics and robotics, Coulais and his team turned their focus to chocolate after making a partnership with renowned foods and consumer goods company Unilever.

The Study's Finding

The spiral-shaped chocolates came with different patterns, ranging from simple S-shapes to intricate labyrinth-like structures. The pieces were given for testing (and tasting) to a panel of lucky chocolate lovers, to find out the most preferred shapes and the reason behind the choices. According to Coulais, the more elaborate and intricate shapes, with more cracks in them, were more enjoyable to the testers. He further elaborated that the crunching of food in mouths gave people pleasure, and that's why the more brittle and ready-to-shatter chocolates are preferred universally.