Two years ago, news headlines blared, Cheese really is crack, citing research that was widely misinterpreted as asserting cheese was addictive. Now, it’s chocolate’s turn.
Last week, several publications celebrated a new study that highlights the impacts of climate change on cocoa, stating global warming might make chocolate taste better. Good news, chocolate-lovers, wrote one outlet, “climate change may have a silver lining’.
Sadly, it’s not true.
Wiebke Niether, the lead researcher of the study (published in the Journal of Agriculture And Food Chemistry) stresses, “We did not … show that climate change may offer opportunities to produce chocolate with a better taste”
Instead, what they found was evidence that climate change impacts the production of fat and minerals in cacao (the pod-shaped fruit whose seeds become cocoa and chocolate) that, in turn, influence both nutritional value and flavor.
Amazon link to purchase Simran Sethi’s Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of the Foods We Love.