For the first time in nearly a century, researchers in the UK have produced a chocolate bar made entirely from British-grown cocoa. Until now, the only person known to have eaten a 100% British chocolate bar was Queen Elizabeth II, who received one as a six-year-old child in 1932.
Scientists and students at the University of Reading created the new chocolate bar using cocoa plants grown inside local greenhouses in Berkshire. The project was created to celebrate the university's 100th anniversary.
Maha Khan, a master's student at the university, carried out the entire process from harvesting and fermenting the beans to turning them into chocolate bars. She noted that before processing, the raw cacao beans were coated in a sweet white pulp that tastes like lychee. The resulting chocolate has a rich and complex flavor profile because the cocoa beans came from a collection of more than 300 plant varieties.
The achievement carries an important message about global food security. Britain has a chocolate market worth £10.4 billion, but it relies almost completely on imported cocoa. Climate change, severe weather, and diseases are currently affecting major cocoa-producing regions, driving up global chocolate prices.
The University of Reading hosts an international cocoa quarantine center that handles 97% of all cocoa plant movements globally. Protecting and studying different cocoa plant varieties helps researchers identify hardier crops that can survive changing weather conditions.
Only six of these British chocolate bars have been made so far due to limited bean supply. The team hopes to expand production in the future and plans to gift one bar to the Princess of Wales, who was born in Reading.