WNWN Food Labs, a UK food tech startup addressing critical problems in food supply chains, announced it is releasing the world’s first cacao-free chocolate. The limited-release box of choc thins is made by applying traditional fermentation techniques to plant-based ingredients, according to a company statement.
WNWN’s alt-choc will be available beginning May 18 and each box will sell for GBP10 GB, on par with premium chocolate.
WNWN’s alt-chocolate is vegan, caffeine-free, gluten-free, lower in sugar than comparable products, and releases around 80% fewer CO2 emissions according to a lifecycle assessment. In addition to being made without cacao butter, it is palm oil-free, unlike most mass-market chocolates.
“Chocolate has a truly dark side with more than a million child laborers estimated to work in Ivory Coast and Ghana, where three-quarters of the world’s cacao is grown, and more CO2 emissions pound for pound than cheese, lamb or chicken,” said WNWN CTO Dr. Johnny Drain. “Using fermentation we’re able to create a suite of the same flavor compounds found in cacao. We can dial up certain aromas and even adjust the acidity to bring out notes found in premium single-origin chocolates.”
WNWN’s first product, developed with an in-house chocolatier, has notes of sticky toffee pudding, dates, cherries, and a rich, buttery finish. In blind taste tests alongside cacao-based dark chocolate, consumers described the products as “very similar.”
British barley—used for centuries in whisky and beer—and carob form the base of WNWN’s cacao-free chocolate. These and other plant-based ingredients are fermented and roasted using a proprietary process to build a flavor profile that mirrors the complexity and makeup of chocolate and the melt-in-the-mouth properties of cacao butter, without using cacao, the statement adds.