Chocolate gets first addition to color palette in 80 years

Bloomberg News

A breakthrough by a Swiss chocolate maker expands the industry’s hues beyond just dark, milk and white.

Barry Callebaut AG, the world’s largest cocoa processor, has come up with the first new natural color for chocolate since Nestle started making bars of white chocolate more than 80 years ago. The Zurichbased company refers to the product with a pinkish hue and a fruity flavor as “ruby chocolate.”

The new product may help boost sales in a struggling global chocolate market that producers hope has touched bottom. As Hershey cuts 15 percent of its staff and Nestle tries to sell its U.S. chocolate business, ruby chocolate raises the possibility that next Valentine’s Day may arrive with store shelves full of naturallypink chocolate hearts.

The innovation, based on a special type of cocoa bean, comes after about a decade of development, CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique said. Unveiled last week in Shanghai, the chocolate has a natural berry flavor that’s sour yet sweet, according to the company, which works behind the scenes to produce chocolate sold by all the major producers, including Hershey and Cadbury.

“It’s natural, it’s colorful, it’s hedonistic, there’s an indulgence aspect to it, but it keeps the authenticity of chocolate,” the CEO said.