Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Science News

The white thing that sometime appears on chocolate? Scientists studied it with X-Rays

Alexandra Gerea by Alexandra Gerea
May 7, 2015
in News, Nutrition, Physics
Reading Time: 2 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

Chocolate is the favorite food of many people throughout the world, bringing joy and happiness into our mouths, one square at a time. But when a whitish coating appears on its surface, most people would think twice before eating. That coating, called chocolate bloom, is actually harmless, but it drastically reduces the visual appeal of the chocolate. Now, researchers from the University of Hamburg have studied chocolate bloom using X-rays.

There are two types of chocolate bloom, both of which are white – one is a fat bloom, and the other is a sugar bloom. Chocolate that has “bloomed” is just as safe to eat, but most people simply wouldn’t touch it, so this is a major concern for producers. I was surprised to learn that a lot has been written about this phenomenon, and there are several good practice techniques to avoid causing it.

Chocolate bloom (right) is harmless, but most customers would simply reject it. Image via Wikipedia.

“Although fat blooming is perfectly harmless, it causes millions in damage to the food industry as a result of rejects and customer complaints,” said Svenja Reinke, the lead author of the new study, in a news release. “Despite this well known quality issue, comparatively little has been known until now about its root causes.”

Svenja K. Reinke and colleagues used X-rays to study the bloom, and they report the cause: chocolate is made of ingredients that don’t always stay in one place. Most notably, lipids (fats) can move through pores and cracks, wandering to the surface, where they crystallize. Along the way, they soften and dissolve solid cocoa butter into a liquid form, which can also migrate.

Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

ADVERTISEMENT

“The experiments that have been conducted allow us as manufacturers of quality chocolate to draw conclusions concerning the root causes of lipid migration leading to blooming,” said Stefan Palzer, one of the researchers, in a news release. “These findings, which we obtained in collaboration with the Hamburg University of Technology and the team at DESY using the latest analytical technologies, provide a solid foundation for developing suitable methods for avoiding one of the most important quality defects in the food industry.”

The findings are published in the journal Applied Materials and Interfaces.

 

ADVERTISEMENT

ShareTweetShare
Alexandra Gerea

Alexandra Gerea

Alexandra is a naturalist who is firmly in love with our planet and the environment. When she's not writing about climate or animal rights, you can usually find her doing field research or reading the latest nutritional studies.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.