Science has done it again. A group of scientists has discovered the reason for the success of chocolate. And it’s not just about its taste: it has to do with the process in which it changes in the mouth from a solid to a smooth emulsion due to its own ingredients and the combination with saliva.
The researchers of the Leeds School of Food Sciences and Nutrition (United Kingdom), have analyzed the physical process that takes place in the mouth when eating a piece of chocolate and the pleasure that its touch and texture produce.
The study, whose conclusions are published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfacecan help develop a new generation of chocolates that have the same feel and texture but are healthier to eat.
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The tests were performed using a luxury brand of dark chocolate on an artificial tongue-like surface that was designed in the university of leedsand the researchers used analytical techniques from a field of engineering called “tribology,” which studies the friction, wear, and lubrication that occur during contact between moving solid surfaces.
In this case, they verified this interaction between the ingredients of the chocolate itself and saliva, and how when it comes into contact with the tongue, it releases a film of fat that covers the tongue and other surfaces of the mouth and that it is this film that makes that this product feels smooth during the whole time that it is in the mouth.
Chocolate is the result of mixing sugar with the mass and cocoa butter. His name comes from nahuatl, an American language. The geographical origin of cocoa is Central America where there is evidence of its cultivation for more than three millennia. According to some historical records, the first European to taste chocolate was Christopher Columbus on his fourth trip.
At present, the main world exporters of cocoa are Ghana y Ivory CoastAfrican countries.