Could This Be the Last Era to Eat 'Real Chocolate'? [Delicious Stories]

②Cocoa Beans, the Dwindling Ingredient in Chocolate
Supply Drops, Prices Rise
A Delicate and Slow-Growing Crop
Major Companies Turn to Alternative Chocolate

Editor's NoteThe first snack is said to have been discovered in the ancient Mesopotamian civilization. Snacks have accompanied every moment of human history. From biscuits and chocolate to ice cream, we bring you delicious stories behind the snacks we have loved.

Between November last year and February this year, major food companies such as Orion, Haitai, and Lotte Wellfood raised the prices of chocolate and chocolate snacks. This was due to cocoa prices, the raw material for chocolate, reaching an all-time high. The cacao tree, which produces cocoa beans, is difficult to cultivate, takes a long time to grow, and is vulnerable to pests and diseases, making it a crop that has long been rumored to be at risk of extinction. It is also difficult to increase crop yields through genetic modification (GM), so food companies have even started developing 'alternative chocolate' that reduces or completely eliminates cocoa content. This means that the days when real chocolate can be easily found in the market may end within the next few decades.

The Chocolate Supply Chain Depends on Two West African Countries

Cocoa powder, cacao beans, the raw material for butter. Pixabay

Cacao trees are sensitive to the environment and easily deteriorate in health, so they cannot be harvested just anywhere. They can only bear fruit properly without pests and diseases in places where the temperature consistently ranges between 18 and 32 degrees Celsius and annual rainfall is between 1500 and 2000 mm.

The only places on Earth that maintain such temperatures are near the equator, spanning regions from South America to Central Africa and Southeast Asia, known as the 'Cocoa Belt.' Cocoa beans, the raw material for cocoa powder and butter, only grow in countries within the Cocoa Belt.

However, cacao trees are not evenly distributed throughout the belt. In reality, two West African countries, C?te d'Ivoire and Ghana, are responsible for more than half of the global cocoa supply.

The 'Cocoa Belt,' the only region on Earth where cacao trees grow without pests and diseases. International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) website

However, as the Earth's average temperature rises, the crop conditions in cocoa-producing countries are gradually worsening. According to data from the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), C?te d'Ivoire's cocoa production for 2023-24 decreased by 20% compared to the previous year, and Ghana's cocoa production decreased by 18%. Prices in the futures market, which are sensitive to supply and demand changes, are also rising. On the 13th (local time), the closing price of May cocoa futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange was $8,150 per ton (approximately 11.85 million KRW), a 20% increase over the past year.

Delicate and Slow-Growing Cacao, Difficult to Genetically Modify

Global chocolate companies have been trying for decades to preserve cacao trees. They have also attempted to develop cocoa varieties that are resistant to pests and less sensitive to the environment. In 1984, through international cooperation, the 'Trinidad International Cocoa Genebank (ICGT)' was established to preserve the cacao genome, and a new variety called CCN-51, which has enhanced disease immunity, was developed.

However, the new variety is not a savior for local cocoa farming. Although CCN-51 is more resistant to pests and diseases than regular cocoa, it is considered inferior in taste and has struggled to penetrate the premium chocolate market. Additionally, if all cocoa farms use only the single CCN-51 variety, genetic diversity will decrease, making the crop more vulnerable to future plant diseases.

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There are also obstacles to genetic modification (GM) technology. To verify the actual effects, new GM seeds must be planted and harvested on farms, but cacao trees take three years to flower and four to five years to bear their first fruit. Global chocolate companies such as Mars in the U.S. and Nestl? in Switzerland have long invested in cocoa seed research, but progress has been very slow due to the tree's slow growth cycle.

Companies Turning Attention to 'Chocolate Without Cocoa'

The global food industry’s immediate solution to the shortage of cocoa powder and butter is to reduce the cocoa content in chocolate and chocolate snacks or to develop 'alternative chocolate' that tastes like cocoa.

Alternative chocolate is a new technology recently attracting attention from major chocolate companies. It contains extremely low or no cocoa at all. In Europe, a traditional chocolate powerhouse, attempts are being made to create a similar taste by mixing Mediterranean legumes like carob with barley malt. Carob beans have a texture similar to cocoa but lack its characteristic bitterness, so other grain flours are mixed in to enhance flavor.

Carob (right), a bean that grows in the Mediterranean, ground to make WNWN alternative chocolate. WNWN website

Leading companies researching carob-based alternative chocolate include the UK’s WNWN (pronounced WinWin), Germany’s Planet A, and Italy’s Foreveland. WNWN, which created the alternative chocolate bar 'Chocnut,' gained attention by winning an innovation award at the 2022 International Confectionery Conference held in Brussels, Belgium, and the following year formed a partnership with Mondel?z, the world’s largest chocolate company owning brands like Hershey’s and Cadbury. Mondel?z plans to apply WNWN’s alternative chocolate ingredients to some chocolate bars and chocolate-coated biscuit products sold in North America.

Planet A raised $15.4 million in Series A funding last year and is already producing 2,000 tons annually of its alternative chocolate product 'Choviva.' With the investment, it plans to increase annual production to 15,000 tons soon and aims to distribute products beyond Germany to the UK, France, and the U.S.

Developers of alternative chocolate explain that the bottleneck in chocolate production caused by cocoa shortages has already begun, and alternative chocolate can be a solution. WNWN recently posted on its official blog, "Companies like Hershey’s, Cadbury, and Mars have already started raising chocolate prices or reducing factory staff," warning that "as cocoa supply tightens and raw material prices soar, chocolate prices will become more expensive." They emphasized, "Chocolate manufacturers need to find ways to offset rising costs," adding, "Alternative chocolate has almost the same aroma, intensity, melting properties, and taste as real chocolate. It is especially suitable for coating cookies, donuts, and biscuits."