What Makes Ruby Chocolate So Wonderfully Pink?

If you've ever seen something called "ruby chocolate," your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. The pink bars labeled as ruby chocolate might resemble solid bricks of strawberry Nesquik, but they're actually derived from an real chocolate product. That's because ruby chocolate is a unique type of chocolate made with a type of cacao known as ruby cacao beans.

Ruby chocolate was originally invented by Swiss chocolate company Barry Callebaut using these specialty cacao beans, which grow specifically in Ivory Coast, Ecuador, and Brazil. In order to get that interesting color, the company says that it uses citric acid during chocolate-making. However, much of the rest of that process remains behind closed doors as trade secrets kept closely guarded by the company. One thing that's certain, however, is that no additives are used in the production of this type of chocolate. As Barry Callebaut maintains, the look and flavor of ruby chocolate is 100% natural.

I have yet to run into a ruby chocolate product in person, but most report that it has an appealing berry-like flavor. And though I joked that it looks like strawberry Nesquik earlier, tasters have indeed likened its flavor to stawberries and raspberries. There's no doubt that the color has been appealing. Back in 2018, KitKat got in on the ingredient intrigue by releasing a limited-edition ruby chocolate flavor in South Korea and Japan. It sold out quickly.

If ruby chocolate sounds too cool to be true, just know there are some skeptics out there who think its existence is simply a marketing stunt. It certainly doesn't help that Barry Callebaut's production process is so obscure. One chocolate professional, the Chocolate Journalist, surmised on their blog that the product is a result of using unfermented cacao beans, which naturally have a pink hue. Fermentation gives the beans their chocolate flavor and ditches the pink color. It's possible that the fermentation process has been skipped altogether in favor of keeping that Instagram-friendly rosy shade. This could then explain why pink chocolate doesn't taste so much like traditional chocolate — because those flavors were never there to begin with. 

It's definitely been a notable addition to the chocolate industry, however. Ruby chocolate originally came out in 2017; the next-most recent chocolate development was the debut of white chocolate (by Nestlé) way back in 1930. Perhaps in the future, we'll even see the proliferation of lab-grown chocolate that can be made without the bean.