Nestlé has created a 70% dark chocolate made entirely from the cocoa fruit, using the pulp as a natural sweetener instead of refined sugar.

Nestlé plans to introduce the first product with cocoa pulp in Japan this fall through its KitKat Chocolatory, with bars retailing for ¥400 ($3.69). Further products in other countries will follow next year, through some of Nestlé’s most popular confectionery brands.

Nestlé has developed a natural approach, which allows it to extract the pulp and use it in chocolate with no compromise on taste, texture and quality.

Until now chocolate has been made with the addition of refined sugars. This patented innovation delivers a great tasting chocolate using only one ingredient – the cocoa fruit.

"We’re proud to bring chocolate lovers a new chocolate made entirely from the cocoa fruit without adding refined sugar,” Patrice Bula, head of strategic business units, marketing and sales at Nestlé. “This is a real innovation which uses the natural sweetness of the cocoa pulp to provide a pure, novel chocolate experience."

The cocoa fruit contains cocoa beans and cocoa pulp. The pulp surrounds the beans, it is soft, sweet and white in color. Some of the pulp is used in the fermentation of the cocoa beans after they are harvested, but a significant proportion is usually removed and the value is lost. Until now, it has not been used as an ingredient to naturally sweeten chocolate.

Nestlé continues to drive innovation and create new, natural and exciting products. Nestlé was the first to bring Ruby chocolate to market in 2018 with KitKat, first in Japan and then across Europe.