This is why you can’t stay away from chocolate
Chocolate is our collective guilty pleasure. From chocolate mousse to chocolate bitterballen and from chocolate spread to chocolate pastries… I can’t resist ANYTHING with chocolate on or in it. But I’m not the only one—and there’s absolutely nothing we can do about collectively giving in to this calorie bomb, in whatever form it comes.
A team of researchers in England has unraveled the secret behind our collective chocolate addiction. It’s not just the taste and smell that make us devour piece after piece. The texture of chocolate appears to be the main culprit.
Chocolate texture
The specific texture of chocolate is what makes us instantly hooked . The greasy film on the outside, followed by the hard texture when you bite into it, makes our mouths seem insatiable. The way chocolate melts in your mouth is what sets it apart from other treats.
The chocolate sensation
In the study published in ACS Applied Material and Interfaces, researchers analyzed the process that takes place when we put chocolate in our mouths. The study focused on texture rather than taste. They discovered that the fat content in chocolate plays a key role when it touches our tongue. They call the effect of chocolate melting on your tongue the ‘chocolate sensation’.
Fat content
This so-called ‘chocolate sensation’ is good news for us chocolate lovers. Chocolate can now be made ‘healthier’. The study shows that only the fat content in the outer layer matters. The fat content of the chocolate deeper inside the bars is much less important to our experience. ‘Whether the chocolate contains 5 or 50 percent fat, it will still form droplets in our mouths that cause the chocolate sensation,’ says Anwesha Sarker, one of the professors involved. Hopefully, we’ll have low-calorie chocolate soon—I can’t wait!
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