Chocolate Shortages Sparking Innovation: Oat Flour

Cocoa prices are 65% higher than they were last year, causing consumers to try to find new ways to save money on their favorite sweets. This spells trouble for manufacturers who will have to contend with these price increases later in the year, finding ways to cut costs by Thanksgiving and Christmas. This could mean experimenting with the size of chocolate bars and product formulations.

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These price increases are largely due to a decrease in output from major cocoa exporters, especially those located in West Africa. The future growing season is also riddled with uncertainty as climate patterns differ and make production difficult. Geopolitical conflicts also make acquiring fertilizer an issue, with diseases affecting cocoa harvests as well. Some companies are already cutting jobs as operations become more costly. Now more than ever, it is important to be innovative in creating the next best chocolate that is both economical for consumers while also delighting their taste buds.

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However, even though chocolate is becoming scarce, there may be a new substitution that could potentially change the dessert game: oat flour.

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Despite Easter having just passed, chocolate is still very much in circulation as nearly everyone's favorite sweet. However delicious it may be, though, the sweet is known to be full of added sugar - sugar that cannot be omitted due to sucrose providing crucial bulk and texture properties. While chocolate manufacturers have tried alternative solutions to this, such as using maltodextrin instead or increasing the cocoa content, they haven’t quite been able to get it right. This has prompted a group of researchers to make a surprising discovery: oat flour as the new sugar.

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A study published in the Journal of Food Science conducted an experiment with rice flour and oat flour in replacing varying amounts of sucrose in lab-made chocolate compounds. When tested, many found that the oat flour chocolate was “creamy” and “soft”. The general consensus was that replacing 25% of sucrose with oat flour in chocolate creates a similarly acceptable and tasty product that offers less added sugar. Not only is this a win for consumers who get a “healthier” product, manufacturers can save costs on what is becoming an increasingly expensive industry - cocoa.

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Using oat flour could very well help reduce cocoa usage and still deliver to consumers a delectable chocolate treat. Where there is a problem there is great potential for innovation; read our article here to learn all about the world of cacao pulp and how it too is being used to alleviate chocolate shortages!

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