Gimme a Valentine’s break: KitKat goes pink
Nestlé launches first bar with ruby chocolate
Nestlé Japan has launched a new KitKat leading up to Valentine’s Day — and it’s pink, naturally. The KitKat Chocolatory Sublime Ruby is the world’s first chocolate bar made out of ruby chocolate.
Swiss cocoa producer Barry Callebaut developed “the fourth type of chocolate,” which he unveiled in September 2017. Joining dark, milk and white, ruby is reportedly the first natural colour to hit the market since white chocolate was introduced in the 1930s.
According to Callebaut’s website, “ruby chocolate has a fresh berry-fruity taste and characteristic colour. No berries, berry flavour, nor colour are added.” Nestlé will have exclusive rights to the product for the next six months, Fortune magazine reports.
Chef Yasumasa Takagi ( one of Japan’s most renowned patissiers) created the limited edition bar, which is now available at KitKat Chocolatory stores in Japan and South Korea, and 80 pop- ups across Japan. The KitKat retails for $ 4.50 (400 yen).
“I am extremely honoured to be a part of this landmark moment in the history of chocolate, with which I have worked intimately for over thirty years,” Takagi told the Independent.
“I have created an especially simple KitKat that allows you to enjoy the characteristic fruity fragrance and subtle acidity of ruby cacao to the fullest.”
Unfortunately for Canadian chocolate lovers, although KitKat Chocolatory Sublime Ruby is available for online ordering in 10 countries ( i ncluding the U. S., Hong Kong and England), Canada is not one of them.
Japan’s love affair with KitKat is well- documented. The ruby bar joins hundreds of other limited edition flavours — including cough drop and “sushi sets” — that Nestlé has developed since the early noughties.
“Japan is the market that has made KitKat so iconic in terms of all the different flavours they’ve developed,” Sandra Martinez, Nestlé’s global head of confectionary, told Fortune magazine.
“This makes Japan the ideal market to go with this news, and KitKat is a brand that’s modern and connects well with millennials, so it’s the right brand to put the first ruby chocolate in the world.”