Scientists have cracked the code on the physiology of chocolate’s transformation from solid to smooth emulsion in the tongue, a transformation that leaves many people utterly smitten. The multidisciplinary research group at the University of Leeds hopes that their careful examination of each stage will lead to the creation of a new generation of high-end chocolates with the same taste and texture as their predecessors but less calories.
The taste of chocolate is a result of the lubrication it receives in the mouth, either from the chocolate’s own components or from saliva, or both.
When a piece of chocolate first comes into touch with the tongue, the fat plays a crucial role practically instantly. Solid cocoa particles are liberated at this point and become significant in terms of the tactile experience, therefore fat further inside the chocolate plays a very limited function and may be removed without affecting the feel or sensation of chocolate.
No matter how much fat is in a bar of chocolate, the droplets that develop in your tongue are what give you that chocolate flavor. In each lubrication step, however, the positioning of the fat within the chocolate’s composition is critical, yet this is an area that has received little attention.
The subject of how chocolate tastes was not explored in the research, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Applied Materials and Interface. Instead, researchers looked at how it felt in their hands.
An expensive dark chocolate brand was put through its paces on a 3D tongue-like surface developed at the University of Leeds. The investigation was conducted with the use of in situ imaging and other analytical methods from the engineering discipline of tribology.
Tribology is the study of these kinds of interactions between surfaces and fluids, including the amount of friction that may be expected and the function of lubrication, such as saliva or the liquids in the chocolate. All of these processes occur in the tongue when chocolate is consumed.
When chocolate melts on the tongue, it generates a fatty coating that covers the tongue and other oral surfaces. Because of this fatty coating, chocolate tastes and feels silky smooth all the way through your eating experience.