Swiss scientists have created what sounds like the holy grail of summer chocolate: a low-calorie and melt-resistant variety.
Vulcano is the code-name for Swiss chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut’s project. “It’s called Vulcano because it can be eaten when it’s hot,” Callebaut spokeswoman Gaby Tschofen told the U.K.’s Daily Mail. “And it’s airy and full of bubbles like molten rock.”
In what sounds like the best news for weight watchers, the new chocolate doesn’t taste like a diet version. Said Tschofen: “It’s nice and chocolatey, with a strong aroma, and crispy rather than creamy. It does melt in the mouth, but it is the enzymes in the saliva rather than the heat of the tongue that causes it to dissolve.”
Callebaut is the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer. They developed the new chocolate in a top-secret lab, and say it has 90 percent fewer calories than regular chocolate and will only melt if exposed to a temperature of about 131 degrees Fahrenheit. (Regular chocolate begins to melt at 86 degrees.) Like some of the world’s most delicious inventions (potato chips, chocolate chips, Popsicles), the product resulted from a mistake, say the lab technicians.
Food engineer Simon Cantz told Swiss television: “Suddenly we realized we’d produced a very special chocolate, of a crispy light consistency, like an airy foam, and we thought let’s see if we can develop this further.”
The product is expected to hit shelves in two years. Wunder bar!