Those with a sweet tooth will have often wondered how the marvellous flavour concoctions are created for their favourite desserts and treats. Ice cream and chocolate present different challenges when capturing unusual or creative tastes.
The flavour gurus at Ben & Jerry’s and chocolatiers at Tony’s Chocolonely spend hours each day imagining new exciting treats for their customers. However, some flavours and textures are harder to capture than others in chocolate and ice cream.
Even ingredients which are straightforward can present a challenge as these two brands are constantly reimagining their products. Tsega Abate, flavour guru at Ben & Jerry’s, told the Daily Record: “We describe ice cream as the product that doesn't want to exist… There are things that are super challenging, but really, we do have a few tricks up our sleeve.”
Read more: The surprisingly delicious Ben & Jerry's flavour that will never be sold
The nature of ice cream is that it melts over time, and this creates difficulty when Ben & Jerry’s flavour gurus want to add in chunks and other ingredients. Tsega said: “Keeping things crunchy can be quite a challenging ice cream because it will take up moisture and it becomes soggy.”
In 2020, the brand launched a Moophoria tub named Poppin Popcorn, which included actual popcorn pieces. These would usually go soggy in the ice cream but Tsega explained that by coating the popcorn in chocolate they could retain the texture as well as add flavour for fans.
Tsega said: “That's another level and layer of flavour you can add as well so it can have function as well as kind of delivering something else for our fans.” So unruly textures can result in even better ice cream for fans but may need some adjustment to survive the cool temperatures and moist environment.
Chocolate presents new problems as it is hard to capture the textures of foods within one bar. While Ben & Jerry’s can add chunks and swirls, mimicking texture can be a tough nut to crack as Bas Klarenbeek from Tony’s Chocolonely explained.
“One [flavour] on the top of my list is a tiramisu,” he said. “I love tiramisu but to get the real experience of tiramisu inside the chocolate bar, it's almost impossible.” This is because Tony’s does not just care about flavour but texture too.
Bas explained: “If you eat real tiramisu, you have the creamy texture of the mascarpone mixture. You have the soft ladyfingers soaked with coffee and amaretto and then you have the dry layer of cocoa powder. To get all these experiences of texture and reactions in your mouth in a solid chocolate bar, that is a very big challenge.”
Liquids are also hard to capture in chocolate, as it has a 100% fat base making it hard to combine with products like soda or other drinks. Bas said: “All ingredients which are water based or fresh ingredients like fresh raspberries or strawberries or mango, that's a big challenge too.”
Both Tsega and Bas said there’s always a way around these limitations, sometimes they just take longer to crack in their tasting kitchens. “There's always tricks and there aren't too many ingredients we haven't played around with and there's always a way around things,” said Tsega.
The brands have brought their imaginative flavour gurus together to create a range of chocolate bars and ice cream called Chocolatey Love-a-Fair. This includes a strawberry cheesecake chocolate bar, which Bas said was a dream to create as it is just as creamy as real cheesecake.
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