The study found that chocolate is delicious because of its fat

“What we take away from this is that lipids are very important,” Anwesha Sarkar, professor of colloids and surfaces at the University of Leeds, told The Washington Post.

The research paper, which was published earlier this month in the American Chemical Society Applied materials and interfaces Journal, detailing how a team of scientists analyzed the chocolate’s journey from aluminum wrapper to papillae of the tongue – iterating each step with a humanoid model of the organ, which they used instead of a real human test to remove as many variables as possible.

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The process of eating chocolate begins with what Sarkar called the “licking stage,” or when the chocolate first touches the tongue. That’s when the soft “chocolate sensation” begins, Sarkar said. Then, as it begins to melt and saliva enters the mix, the cocoa solids are released into the chocolate, along with A rush of happiness-boosting endorphins.

After conducting the experiment, the scientists concluded that the chocolate’s silky feel is the product of the fat droplets making the coarse cocoa particles slide smoothly inside the mouth. But does this mean that chocolate has to be high in fat to be enjoyed?

Sarkar said: Not quite. If the chocolate is coated with fat, it doesn’t necessarily matter if the chocolate itself contains a lot of fat.

“In the licking phase, the fat is very important to the sensation that the lubrication creates,” she said. “But as you get down to the inner contents and core of the chocolate, and it all starts to mix with your saliva, the amount of fat doesn’t matter. So, you should have enough fat to coat the cocoa particles at first, but you don’t need a lot of fat after that.”

In other words, the researchers found that the amount of fat isn’t nearly as important as its location—a discovery that could pave the way for a new generation of chocolate that’s not only delicious but also healthier and more sustainable. .

“The biggest hurdle in food design is taste and texture,” she said. “If we understand the mechanisms of why something is tasty, it is easier to recreate more healthy and sustainable versions. We can also better tailor food for vulnerable groups, people with swallowing disorders or who need energy-dense products.”

“I mean, imagine if we could make broccoli taste as good as chocolate,” added Sarkar, who describes himself as a chocolate lover. “Or, at the very least, make something like a zero-calorie chocolate bar that has the same creamy, silky texture of regular chocolate.”

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Sarkar said her team’s findings could do just that Implementation to other grainy foods, such as cheese. The goal, she said, is to get a better understanding of how food texture plays a role in people’s taste experience.

“Our inclinations and aversions to food really stem from its texture, not its taste,” she said. “So, for example, a lot of the things that people like have sugar in them; but, you know, an orange is not the same as a chocolate bar. So it’s not the sweetness, it’s the texture.”

When it comes to food, other studies suggest that texture and deliciousness are linked together. According to one It was published in 2015, people’s texture preferences fall into four groups: chewers, who like foods that don’t need to be chewed; Crackers, who love crunchy. suckers, who prefer items that melt; And those who want nothing more than food to spread in their mouths.

“Texture can be a major cause of food rejection,” said Melissa Jeltema, co-author of the study with Jacqueline Beckley and Jennifer Vahalik of the U&I Collaboration, a strategic business development and product research technology firm. “Individuals have a preferred way of eating foods, so it is preferable to favor foods that easily align with a preferred way of eating—assuming the taste is also liked.”

Jeltema said chocolate is an example of a food item that is able to flex texture preferences — it can be enjoyed by anyone who likes its taste. For the chewers, there are chocolate-covered raisin brownies. For nuts, chocolate with nuts. for lollipops, hard chocolate candies; And for dishes, something like Nutella spread or chocolate ice cream.

This is it Chocolate magic – according to science.