Chocolate connoisseurs, rejoice: scientists have dug deep into cacao bean fermentation, a crucial part of the chocolate-making process, to come up with a list of key environmental factors that influence chocolate flavor .

It should now be easier to consistently make better-quality chocolate across the globe on a larger scale, in the same way that premium beers and cheeses are produced to specific recipes.

Led by a team from the University of Nottingham in the UK, the research involved a careful study of cacao bean ( Theobroma cacao ) farms in Colombia, where the acidity, temperature, and microbe conditions of the fermentation process were tracked.

"This work lays the foundation for a new era in chocolate production, where defined starter cultures can standardize fermentation, un

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