Reading, Berkshire — Britain has produced a chocolate bar made entirely from British ingredients for the first time in almost a century — using cocoa grown in a glasshouse in Berkshire.
The unusual bar was created by Maha Khan, a master’s student at the University of Reading, as part of celebrations marking the university’s 100th anniversary. The cocoa beans were grown at the university’s International Cocoa Quarantine Centre, rather than being imported from traditional cocoa-producing regions such as Brazil, Ghana or Indonesia. (The Times)
The chocolate also uses British milk and sugar, making the finished product entirely British from its ingredients to its production. Khan harvested the cocoa pods and carried out the fermentation and processing at the university.
“It has been amazing to follow the entire chocolate-making process, from pod to bean to bar, without leaving Reading,” Khan said. (The Guardian)
The achievement is believed to be the first of its kind since 1932 or 1933, when Rowntree’s produced a bar using cocoa grown in a greenhouse at its York factory. That chocolate was given to the future Queen Elizabeth II when she was a child. (The Times)
Only a handful of the new Berkshire bars have been produced so far because growing cocoa in Britain is highly challenging. The university maintains more than 300 varieties of cocoa plants at its quarantine centre, which plays an important role in preserving genetic diversity within the crop. (The Guardian)
The project is about more than producing an unusual chocolate bar. Researchers say preserving different cocoa varieties could become increasingly important as climate change affects temperature, rainfall, pests and diseases in the world’s major cocoa-growing regions.
Britain’s chocolate industry is worth billions of pounds but depends heavily on cocoa imported from overseas. The Berkshire experiment demonstrates that cocoa can be grown under controlled conditions in the UK, while also highlighting the challenges facing global cocoa supplies.
The university does not currently plan to sell the chocolate commercially. However, one of the limited-edition bars is expected to be presented to a member of the Royal Family.
For now, the Berkshire creation offers a remarkable taste of what British chocolate could look like — cocoa from Reading, milk and sugar from Britain, and a journey from pod to bar without leaving the country. (The Times)
