I came across this article above while searching for more cacao and chocolate related research papers. I don’t think that I will summarize this one, but I did find it interesting enough to discuss the topic of cacao/chocolate and bitterness.

Carob powder is from a Mediterranean legume, while cocoa powder is from a South American seed found in the fruit of the Cacao Tree. Image by @koolmonty

Here, some research was conducted to see if a product blended of both carob and cocoa would be appealing to people. The reason? There is more and more research discussing the thought that dark chocolate and products high in cocoa are beneficial to ones health, especially in the way of cardiovascular health. Consumer a higher percentage chocolate would ultimately lead to a higher concentration of said nutrients. However, the article goes on to suggest (although this is quite true) that for most people, the thought of a higher percentage dark chocolate is unappealing due to… you guessed it, bitterness. Cutting the product with a high proportion of carob would not only reduce the bitterness (since carob is not as bitter), but would also increase fiber as well (since carob is a legume high in fiber).

So this got me thinking about the perceived bitterness in chocolate and the perception that all cocoa/chocolate is synonymous with bitter tastants. I would agree that yes, cocoa is bitter. But I would also go on to make the statement that cocoa is not synonymous with bitterness.

Yes, cocoa is bitter

Cocoa beans are the seeds of a fruit, and what better way to avoid herbivores and omnivores from eating potential offspring? Make it unpleasant for them to eat. Now, this doesn’t always work, but it has its uses. Cocoa beans or nibs are nearly always products that have been fermented, dried, and usually roasted. This greatly reduces the bitterness of the seed. Eating a fresh cocoa seed after opening the fruit up would not illicit euphoric flavours reminiscent of a chocolate bar. The taste would be quite unappealing. There are a few reasons why cocoa beans are bitter or perceived to be bitter.

The way we consume chocolate is unique

What else would be unappealing and bitter if not consumed in it’s ideal state?

Whole coffee beans or spoonfuls of coffee grinds
Cutting open a tea bag and eating the contents as is

Now, one may enjoy nibbling on some chocolate covered coffee beans, but it’s rare for people to eat coffee grinds by the spoonful. I often compare fine chocolate to coffee and tea, and here is no exception. People forget that chocolate was originally a water-based drink much like tea and coffee still are today. The water (and other ingredients) tempered the flavour of the cocoa beans, just as water tempers the flavour of the coffee beans or tea leaves. The difference is that post 1947, people started eating bars of chocolate, unlike eating bars of tea leaves or coffee beans. This is why a little sugar is added to the bar, to temper the flavour. We can’t add water (since chocolate bars are a fat-based product), so we add some sugar.

If we started making bars of 70% ground coffee beans or 85% tea bars with nothing but ground up tea leaves and a little sugar, they likely wouldn’t fly off the shelves. The way we consume chocolate now, as a bar, of mostly ground up cocoa beans and just a little sugar (in the way of dark chocolate) is why it tends to have higher amounts of bitter alkaloids. We’re eating a very concentrated product that has seeds that naturally are bitter like many naturally occurring seeds and leaves (as a way for them to deter being eaten).

Cocoa Selection based on cost, not taste

Figure 1. Teosinte ear (Zea mays ssp mexicana) on the left, maize ear on the right, and ear of their F1 hybrid in the center (photo by John Doebley, University of Wisconsin) Read more here at Terry Daynard’s blog.

Nearly all the chocolate in the world is made with cocoa beans that are grown for economic reasons above taste/flavour reasons (which is true for many of our foods these days). And in some ways (whether you agree or not) this makes economic sense for the countries who grow the cacao and the countries who turn it into chocolate. I’m not going to debate here on whether this is good or bad, but I just want to make something clear. Cacao is grown and has been grown for a long time in a way that put taste/flavour secondary to other reasons, and you can taste the result of that. Most cocoa beans in the world today are much higher on the bitter scale, but people have come to associate bitterness with cocoa beans and high percentage dark chocolate. However, as the fine chocolate sector has clearly demonstrated, cocoa beans and high percentage dark chocolate don’t have to be bitter.

Think of the plump sweet apple you enjoy, the mild and fragrant tomatoes, or those juicy peaches and cream cobs of corn. We have these products today because for many years (generations, centuries, or millennia) people who grew these selected traits that made them more flavourful and tasty. If they had not, you likely wouldn’t be able to swallow one bite of apple’s wild ancestor, and wouldn’t know what to do with a hard cob of corn the size of your finger (See Figure 1).

No, cocoa is not bitter

In continuation from the point above, let’s try and understand how naturally speaking, cacao is not bitter.

Selecting for flavour first

In the same way as humans of the past have given us the apples and corns of today, people in South and Central America have long selected cocoa trees to produce better tasting fruits, and possibly seeds as well (which in some capacity are connected with the flavour of the fruit). There are many cacao beans today that after being fermented and roasted are not bitter at all. I received some cacao beans from researcher Albert Eskes who was excited about some Peruvian cacao beans with very unique flavour. Another interesting feature was that they were barely fermented or roasted. Now, if you ever tried “raw” or unroasted cocoa beans or unfermented, you will know how awful they can taste, and not just for bitterness. These beans were surprisingly delightful. They had floral and mandarin aromas to them. I admit some had bit of astringency, and a couple types were a little bitter, but overall very aromatic and not very intense or bitter. If you read some of his research in my research blog you will learn about how some farmers today in Peru still continue to select and grow trees based on the flavour of the fruit and how the flavour of the seeds are very unlike the flavour of most of our cocoa beans today.

I remember having a tasting and sharing some Nacional cacao beans with no bitterness, and the group enjoyed the flavour of the bean even more than the flavour of the chocolate made from that same bean (the chocolate having some sugar added as well). The truth is, there is a great deal of work that can be done in conjunction with nature to select for cacao beans that are very flavourful and also naturally very low on the bitterness scale. This is some of what the fine chocolate sector tries to showcase. So, if you consider the fresh corn or apples you eat today to be unnatural versions, then I guess this point is moot. However, the interaction of humans and animals with the shaping of how plants change has been occurring for as long as the two have lived together. For this reason, I would say that we can and do naturally achieve cacao beans and chocolate with little to no bitterness. However, this conclusion can only be made by a tiny fraction of the population who has encountered such chocolate and cacao. To the rest of the world, it’s a world chocolate waiting to be discovered.

Threshold for sweet & Bitter tastants

Human consumption of sweet foods and sugar makes slightly bitter foods or intense foods seem even more bitter or less sweet than they really are. One reason why people find dark chocolate bitter is due to the bitter cacao used, but also to the fact that people’s expectations for sweetness is also quite high. Image by @floristeady

Many people in my tastings say how the cocoa bean sample was not as bitter or bitter as they had expected. Some of the “bitterness” people speak of is sometimes confused with “intensity” of flavour. Bitterness is a more specific trait, or taste, such as that in a grapefruit or bitter melon. As well, some people today have a strong sweet tooth, or prefer to only consume mild tasting foods, and for them, the fine cocoa beans can be described as “bitter”. Regardless of whether they are misinterpreting bitterness or just have a low tolerance for any bitter alkaloid, this also influences the perception that cacao and chocolate are naturally bitter.

As well, most of these people also have only had commercial chocolate made with bulk cacao, and so yes, once you get into the 65% and above, the chocolate can begin to get quite bitter. Even the cocoa powder used for their hot chocolates or cake recipes is also very bitter, being made by low quality bitter cacao. This ties into the point above about most cocoa/chocolate products being selected for economic reasons over flavour, but tie this together with people’s low tolerance for any sort of “bitterness” and very high threshold for sweetness in their foods, and you have a clash of flavour. You have a population that instead of delving into fine chocolate, or suggesting the improving of the mass produced cocoa, to start to “cut” cocoa and chocolate with carob powder. This is not a judgement, but more just an observation.

Cutting cocoa with carob

As someone with a background in both science and gastronomy, I say go for it. It’s always interesting to see new products, especially if they are made well and with good ingredients. The problem I see here is that this will encourage the growth of commercial bulk cacao and discourage the need for more fine cacao. However, there is the thought that gianduia (AKA Nutella) was invented in Italy by cutting chocolate with hazelnuts in the 19th Century. A happy result obviously. This was a result of the cost of cacao being too high or supply being limited. In the case for carob here (which by the way many say has a resemblance in flavour to cocoa), the reasoning in this paper listed above is to cut bitterness and increase fiber. Cocoa brings along it’s high flavanol content and flavour appeal while the carob cuts bitterness and increases fiber content (another point on health).

It is funny though, as the thought of “blending” cacao in the fine chocolate world can be a contentious issue. With the focus on single origin, the idea of blending cacao from various regions or types can make some chocolate makers a little peeved. I can’t imagine their reaction when carob is suggested instead. However, if sides are to be taken, I will stand on the side of no carob in my chocolate please. As someone who tries to promote and educate the world on fine cacao and fine chocolate, any distraction to that is not warmly welcomed. Perhaps highlighting this article fueled such a distraction? Not sure, but any change to dismantle the perception of chocolate as bitter I will take.

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Carob & Cocoa blend to reduce bitterness?