Men and chocolate - both have a grey old time

Greying with age isn’t always a bad thing – both men and chocolate may lose their looks over a number of years but arguably this does not detract from their delight says Leila Sattary.

As the escaping "fat blooms" recrystallise they scatter light, giving old chocolate its characteristic dull white appearance

However, image is everything and research from Canadian and Swedish scientists has revealed how chemistry could keep chocolate seductively smooth and shiny over time. If only it was so simple for men!

The findings, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Soft Matter, have shown that manipulating the chocolate’s microstructure is vital to keeping a long lasting visual appeal. “Fat blooms”, as they are called, arise from temperature fluctuations that cause the cocoa and butter to melt and then recrystallise in needle-like structures. These act to scatter light and give the chocolate an unappealing dull appearance.

Dérick Rousseau from Ryerson University, Canada and his team used a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to build up a high resolution image of chocolate surfaces. They found that minimising surface imperfections reduced the tendency for fat blooms to form.

They also found that filled chocolates, like strawberry creams, were even more likely to grey over time as the liquid-state fat migrates through the chocolate accelerating the effect. So girls, if you received boxed chocolates then it is best to eat them promptly.

Nigel Sanders, senior research scientist at Cadbury in Toronto, Canada, says that more work is needed to stop the inevitable greying. “As an industry, we haven’t got to the bottom of what tools we have to stop bloom formation from happening.”

By Leila Sattary