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Inside the mouth-watering race to master lab-grown chocolate

We’ve now figured out how to culture chocolate in the lab. The breakthrough could help with spiralling cocoa costs, and may even lead to tastier treats with more nutritional value

By Michael Le Page

14 April 2025

California-Cultured-Cell-Chocolate. Shaker process

California Cultured lab-grown chocolate

It is by far the rarest and most exclusive chocolate I have ever eaten. In fact, you can’t even buy it in shops. It doesn’t look that special, though – just a few flattened droplets a slightly lighter shade than most dark chocolate, sealed in a tiny plastic bag.

It smells like dark chocolate and tastes like it, too, but better – less bitter. Most of all, for me, there is no doubt that this is the real thing.

That is important because what I am eating wasn’t made using cocoa beans sourced from trees like normal chocolate.…

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