Barry Callebaut launches 100% ‘Cacaofruit’, in another first for the confectionery sector

After much hype and considerable scene-setting in San Francisco, Barry Callebaut today launched ‘Cacaofruit Experiences’, another new category in the confectionery sector, which, for the first time, uses the whole cacao fruit in its products.

Aimed at chefs and artisans and being piloted already in select retail stores in the San Francisco area before a wider roll-out in 2020, Cacaofruit Experiences is clearly aimed at the millennials and centennials, and their demand for next category snacks to be ‘tasty and nutritious, as well as good for the planet and its people’.

At an exclusive multi-media and immersive event in a former warehouse in the upcoming Dogpatch district of San Francisco, Barry Callebaut CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique said: “Innovation is one of the pillars of our growth strategy, our unparalleled knowledge has enabled us to break new ground, unleashing the full power of the cacao fruit​.”

The innovation is provided by Barry Callebaut’s research and development team, who have unlocked the full potential of cacao, ‘the food of the gods’ by utilising the whole fruit.

Up until now 70% of the fruit has been discarded as waste. Cacaofruit Experiences uses not only the beans for the chocolate but its nutrient-dense peel and its fresh and fruity pulp juice as a natural sweetener, for example.

The result, says Barry Callebaut, is that all the ingredients from the cacao pod can be used in not only chocolate, but juices, smoothies, frozen desserts, bakery and pastry products and snacks. The crust can also be ground down to make flour to be used for making brownies.

Speaking at the event to ConfectioneryNews, Pablo Perversi, Barry Callebaut’s Chief Innovation, Sustainability & Quality officer, said: “Innovation is in the blood and DNA of our company​.

“As a clean label product it all comes from the cacao fruit, so it’s a whole fruit experience and the great thing about it is that we have managed to unravel a lot of value for that cacao fruit experience because you are talking about products that go into ice cream, beverages, into bakery and obviously, at the heart of our company is the chocolate​.”

'Healthy indulgence'

He said the new category meets the needs of millennials and centennials’ for ‘healthy indulgence’, the way that Ruby chocolate, launched in 2017, met the need for a more ‘hedonistic indulgence’.

“I am so proud of what the company has achieved with this category. We have just come from the UN Climate Change Summit in New York, where everyone is talking about action and not words and everyone is talking about nature-based solutions - and here we come with a solution that not only makes sure that the farmers get recognized for a whole fruit and … also we are doing this in a sustainable way, setting new ways of farming and exciting the market to needs that have not been met before​.

 “The opportunities with this new category are infinite​,” Perversi said.

Mondelēz International will kick off the global roll-out of Cacao Experiences by introducing the new category to its SnackFutures innovation hub in a consumer product under its CaPao brand​.

Thirty chefs from all over the world were flown in for the launch and demonstrated the range and power of the Cacaofruit Experience in a range of exclusive confectionery, created especially for the media and food influencers.

From May 2020 Barry Callebaut’s Wholefruit Chocolate will be available in two variants: bold and smooth, and Wholefruit velvety.

Find out more at www.wholefruitchocolate.com​.