Scientists are striving to comprehend where the unique flavors of chocolate originate in order to more accurately reproduce them. A significant amount of the chocolate we eat is made from a combination of cacao from several farms, regions, or even countries. Luisa Vicinanza-Bedi, a Nottingham-based artisan chocolatier, claims that the flavor of the chocolate is unique due to the use of a single bean variety from a single farm. They conduct direct business with their farmers and inspect the beans. They do a pilot line test, a cut test, a weight test, a moisture analysis, and several other tests. To get the most out of each harvest and produce consistently high quality, Prof. Irene Chetschik, leader of the Research Group for Food Chemistry at Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), is inventing new technical techniques that can affect the cocoa flavor at the molecular level.

At the University of Nottingham, Dr. David Goupaulchan, an international research fellow, has been studying the bacteria that are present during fermentation, how their development dynamics are influenced by their environment, and how they help flavors to emerge. He emphasized how important fermentation was to the taste and quality of chocolate. A better understanding of the procedure would lead to better quality chocolate for consumers and higher pricing for farmers.