Will Your Favorite Chocolate Bars Feature Mushrooms? Could In Fact Reduce Bitterness Of Cocoa And Need For Sugar, Good News For Dieters Watching Calories

What's your favorite type of chocolate? Milk? Dark? Or... mushroom?

In the latest news from the chocolate world, a company is beginning to test a novel way of making chocolate.

This week, MycoTechnology, Inc has started to test a special fermentation process using mushrooms to reduce the bitterness of cocoa beans in chocolate bars.

The company has previously used a similar technique to reduce the bitterness of coffee beans - they launched that program last year, and have decided the time is right to delve into chocolate.

"We use mushrooms that we train specifically to remove unwanted aspects of food and infuse it with the natural health benefits of the mushroom," said Alan Hahn, CEO of MycoTechnology, Inc, as quoted by Reuters.

"Particularly with chocolate, the bitterness is a big issue. We remove that bitterness and the need for sugar is reduced drastically."

Confectionery News reported that the bitterness-removal process does not involve your average garden mushroom - the company uses "Reishi mushrooms, a strain of gourmet mushrooms used in Eastern medicine".

This latest mushroom and cocoa fermentation could end up resulting in a huge breakthrough for dieters and calorie-counters, with their sugar intake reduced drastically amidst growing concerns about obesity and related health issues.

"About half of the average milk chocolate bar is made of sugar, according to industry experts," said Reuters.

MycoTechnology, Inc says they can cut the amount of sugar needed in your average chocolate bar by half.

But Ed Seguine, president of Seguine Cacao Cocoa & Chocolate Advisors, says it may not be as easy as just taking the sugar out.

"It doesn't make economic sense because you've got to put something in its place," said Ed.

"If you wind up taking sugar out and raising the (cocoa) liquor content, you will raise the fat content of the bar, which will be higher calories."

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chocolate
health
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