Food & Climate
Nestlé has developed a technique that utilizes up to 30% more cocoa fruit to produce chocolate while maintaining taste. This approach not only minimizes waste, but also helps farmers get more yield, as well as value from their cocoa harvests.
Traditionally, chocolate is made using only the cocoa beans that are extracted from inside the cocoa pods. The beans are harvested, fermented, dried, roasted and then ground into a liquor, which is used to make chocolate. However, a significant amount of cocoa fruit, including the pulp, placenta and pod husk, remains largely unused, according to a report seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
Human-caused climate change has caused global cocoa stocks to slump to their lowest levels in a decade.
Last year, it added six weeks of days above 32°C in over 70% of cacao-producing areas across several African countries. Extreme weather and crop diseases hit plantations hardest in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, the two largest producers of the crop.
That has caused cocoa prices to reach all-time highs this year. In London, the price of cocoa rose nearly fivefold between January 2023 and last December, and is still nearly three times high as the former. The same was true for New York, where cocoa futures tripled in 2024, reaching a record $12,565 per tonne in mid-December.
And this could well continue in the long term. Scientists have warned that cocoa trees are threatened, and a third of them could die out by 2050, which could lead to a global chocolate shortage.
Everything inside the cocoa fruit pod is collected
Recognizing the potential of some parts of the cocoa fruit, Nestlé’s R&D experts developed a technique that leverages all parts of the fruit inside the cocoa pod.
In this method, everything inside the pod is collected as a wet mass, which ferments naturally, unlocking the chocolate flavor. The mass is then ground, roasted and dried into chocolate flakes, which can be used to make chocolate without compromising the taste.
“With climate change increasingly affecting cocoa yields around the world, we are exploring innovative solutions that could help cocoa farmers maximize the potential of their harvests,” says Louise Barrett, head of Nestlé’s research and development center for confectionery in York, U.K.
“This groundbreaking technique utilizes more of the fruit while enabling us to provide delicious chocolate to our consumers. While this project is still at a pilot stage, we are currently exploring how to apply this innovation at a larger scale.”
The technique has the potential to increase the amount of cocoa material available to farmers, as well as to free up time for them. With more efficient cocoa extraction, farmers could have more time to focus on agricultural practices, such as pruning, which has been demonstrated to improve yields, according to “Food Engineering“.
The problem of the cocoa industry
The problem is, the cocoa industry is a major contributor to the climate crisis. Dark chocolate, meanwhile, generates more greenhouse gases than all other foods except beef. And a bar of chocolate requires 1,700 litres of water to produce on average. The widespread use of deforestation-linked palm oil doesn’t help either.
It has left the industry scrambling, with both small and big players affected. Hershey, for instance, has cut its profit forecast for 2025 and announced a double-digit hike in product prices due to high cocoa costs.
Nestlé, as the world’s largest food company and the industry’s biggest polluter, is also feeling the heat. Now, its scientists believe the solution to the cocoa crisis lies in the cacao fruit itself.
In fact,an estimated 70% of the cacao fruit is wasted during chocolate production.
While some companies have taken to creating upcycled products with it, like cacao fruit juice or snacks, others have used it to make chocolates that utilise all parts of the plant.
It’s not the first time Nestlé’s scientists have responded to solve the supply shocks of a key commodity. Last year, its agricultural science team developed a new high-yielding arabica coffee variety said to be resistant to climate change and leaf rust, a fungal disease that decimates crops.
The Swiss company is one of several industry giants that have been seeking future-friendly chocolate innovations, according to “green queen“.