“Our research opens the possibility that manufacturers can intelligently design dark chocolate to reduce the overall fat content,” Dr Sarkar says. Meanwhile, the fat contained deeper inside plays a limited role and could be reduced without lessening that desirable melting sensation. In other words, the satisfaction we feel when we place a square of chocolate on our tongue is caused by the fat that coats its surface. “You still need some fat to form those droplets but not as much because, now, saliva drives the process.” Once the chocolate has begun to melt and coat your mouth, fat plays a less important role. “It's this lubrication which gives you that chocolaty sensation in your mouth.”ĭr Sarkar’s recent experiments revealed something surprising about the next part of the process. “When you first put a piece of chocolate on your tongue, the fat mixes with a little saliva to form droplets, and then more droplets are formed,” explains Dr Anwesha Sarkar from the School of Food Science and Nutrition at Leeds. So, they used an artificial 3D ‘tongue’ to investigate whether it was the fat content (fat makes up about 55% of cacao beans) or our saliva that causes chocolate to melt so deliciously. And this is exactly what chocolate promises – it begins to melt almost the instant it hits our tongue, coating our mouths in silky sweetness. Texture, they say, is the critical factor here: our brains find the textural change from solid to creamy highly pleasurable. Researchers at Leeds University are now one step closer to unravelling the secrets of why we love chocolate so much.
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