World’s first 100% soft melting real chocolate for ice cream

27 January 2012 – Barry Callebaut has launched an exciting new generation of soft melting ice cream chocolate bites called ChocMelts inclusions. Unlike standard compound based drops, the ChocMelts inclusions are the first ever to be made from 100% chocolate, offering the unmistakably intense flavour and texture of genuine chocolate. Because they melt together with ice cream, the inclusions release a much richer and more intense chocolate taste than regular chocolate ice cream inclusions. The perfect crystalline structure of the cocoa butter ensures a 100% pure chocolate experience, even at the low temperatures of ice cream.

Hans Vriens, chief innovation officer at Barry Callebaut, "Barry Callebaut’s ChocMelts inclusions are a truly exciting new development. This is the first time anyone has developed a 100% chocolate inclusion with the perfect melting behaviour required for use in ice cream. This unique innovation offers untold possibilities for new products and new taste sensations for the end consumer."

Developing chocolate based inclusions for ice cream presents a major challenge for chocolate and ice cream makers. In order to replicate the same texture and melting behavior of chocolate at low temperatures, most manufacturers resort to the use of so called chocolate ‘compounds’, based on vegetable fats other than cocoa butter. Today’s new ChocMelts, however, represent a major breakthrough in the industry. Made from 100% chocolate, the inclusions combine the technical characteristics of compounds with the inimitable flavour, taste profile and intense aroma of 100% pure chocolate.

The inclusions can be blended with ice cream via a standard fruit feeder. The new soft melting chocolate drops are available in dark, milk and white chocolate and can in principle be developed to match any taste profile. The 20 kg packs can be stored for up to 18 months in a frozen environment. Barry Callebaut plans to start shipping this innovation in Europe immediately. Other regions – such as Americas and Asia – are planned to follow at a later stage.