How Big Companies RUINED chocolate! 

EARLY!!! Ann's videos are honestly the best :))

I run a small chocolate business for nearly a decade and have been saying this to people for years. It's nice to see someone with such a good reputation for fact finding taking it on. Thanks Ann. Have a great week.

There's a chocolate company in my country called Chocolate Makers. They were fed up with how chocolate was done by the big companies and started their own company. They also factored in the environment in their business plan where possible. We use it in our bakery and we've had a tour through their factory and their tasting and the flavors were AMAZING!!! So happy to have been able to go with that chocolate :D.

as someone from the Philippines, I was shocked at how many varieties of apple they knew, but then when i think about it, i can also name several varieties of bananas easily 😂😂

Been working in chocolate for 20 years. You nailed it. Never heard a better explanation of the difference between great chocolate and junk.

It's so funny that Dave and the boys are up to taste just about any cooking "hack" monstrosity, and then the one time there's just genuinely good chocolate, they're like, "Meh." 🤣

I had a roommate in college that totally "ruined" me on cheaper chocolate after introducing me to these $5-6-7 bars from health food stores. Like everything, you get what you pay for. But instead of just inhaling those expensive bars like I was known to do with cheaper bars and still not feel satiated , the expensive ones satisfy me with just a few nibbles or a square. It's about quality over quantity!

A few decades? ago in the US, Nestle and Hershey's lobbied to have cocoa butter taken out of the definition of chocolate. They lost, but while cocoa butter remains in a few of their flagship products, you'll find in many of them it's replaced with some alternative oil.

Funnily enough, the Lindt that Anne uses as the "bland" version is considered some of the higher quality stuff you can get in Canadian supermarkets!

Interesting that coffee enthusiasts get really into different beans and their flavors and complexity, but chocolate has never been marketed like that.

I once bought a single origin chocolate out of curiosity at an elitist organic store, and until then I believed chocolate always needed sugar to make it taste good, they were delicious without being overtly sweet. They were so expensive though!

I hadn't realized how complex the process was to make the end product for the cacao beans. It honestly sounds a lot like making cheese, with all the enzymes and fermentation processes. No wonder it's so complex and varied in all the different regions of the world.

I live in a chocolate producing region of Indonesia. The local government then built a theme park called "Kampung Cokelat" (Chocolate village) filled with educational materials of chocolate production and they sell (locally made) chocolate bars as well! Thanks for the video!!

10/10 love the "17 minute video about a food industry" format, please do more in-depth videos like this!

When we were kids (Philippines) and was introduced to 'Quik' Chocolate drink, were were like, "are we drinking shredded paper soup"??? After years of enjoying chocolate from our Grandma's tree... i knew i know how Chocolate should taste!

0:53 The way he says "no" like he thinks you're about to spring some 5-minute-crafts chocolate on him is so funny

As a mexican form the state of Tabasco, we are very proud of our chocolate! it was common in the past to grind and make chocolate at home, my grandma used to do it, so i was very familiar with the real flavor of cocoa beans and chocolate. Sometimes when tasting cheap or very procesed chocolate feel weird and some of my friends tend to call me a snob because i'm very exigent with the flavor of chocolate, but when they taste what is a real and good chocolate, they find out why i'm like that hahaha thanks a lot for sharing this knowledge!!!

I really appreciate how the video just focuses on facts and communication. There are no memes, goofy gimmicks, drama or over-energetic delivery as cheap ways to "keep the viewer engaged." You made a video that was to the point, just aimed at people who want to learn. Pure quality, thank you.

When I was 8 my family was in Honduras for a vacation, and one day we visited a cocoa farm that was set up to show tourists some of the process of cocoa growing. I still remember being fascinated (and a little grossed out) seeing a pod cracked open and these slimy white beans come out 😂 blew my tiny child mind that chocolate could have ever started from that point. This video really brought me back to that moment, even almost 2 decades later. Hope that farm is still doing well

That Lindt bar you showed was part of a recent consumer report about lead and cadmium in chocolate. I would love to hear you talk about the implications of that report.

I always find it so amazing to think about how things like chocolate came to be. How someone had to harvest these beans and figure out what to do with the stuff inside them, how you have to let them ferment and dry and everything, it's really cool to think about the long history of these products and all the people that helped in making them the way that they are today.

if you put together a box of labelled samples from this video so we could taste them together while watching and compare, i'd pay crazy money for that, Ann! you've piqued my curiosity

I used to think that I didn't like chocolate until I learned in a documentary about the different types of beans and how bars are made and I got curious about it. Today I really love dark chocolate, but I only buy very small quantities of very good quality bars. A lot of people who tells me that they don't like dark chocolate have been impressed so far when they taste it.

I will never cease to be amazed at Anne's ability to break down complex topics in an understandable way. Keep up the good work Anne!

I remember the first time I had an artisanal chocolate. It's been too long for me to recall specifics, but the feeling of standing there in front of the guy who made the final product while he explained the origins, the tasting notes, the process... indescribable. It was a creamy mouthfeel unlike anything I had experienced with chocolate before, and hearing him talk about it made me appreciate the product even more. That something like chocolate could have TASTING NOTES was unbelievable. It was a totally different experience. I still love my Hershey's Dark Chocolate stocking stuffers, but nothing can compete with the care that goes into the small batch producers!

Ann: I picked a few Also Ann: Goes the extra mile and shows fifteen chocolate bars

Wonderful content!! I used to be part of this cocoa chain (supplychain) largely for NYBOT and LIFFE (now both changed their names). Just to add my 2 cents worth; 1. Cocoa beans travel half way around the world to be processed. This has a very damaging effect on the beans. There are infestations, condensations, extra fermentation due to condensations etc. 2. The demand for cocoa beans have grown exponentially in last 10 odd years. Hence the supply has become relatively tighter. Everyone is trying to get as much beans as possible. Hence the threshold for all grades have been somewhat lowered. 3. Recycled beans become a big business. The extra fermented or other low grades beans were not so much in demand years ago. Yet these have become super hot as their cost was super low before. Hence there are specialists who collect and trades these low grade beans. The problem is, small producers would not have sufficient volume to blend these into their line, hence those are mostly used by ‘large’ producers. There used to be some Chinese backed producers who specialised in low grade beans but after their collapse, the supply have been available to anyone who wants it. So many of the cost conscious producers adopted low grade beans more and more. This trend will only continue to grow as the crop yield is likely to fall and the demand stays strong. We are seeing more and more ‘artificial flavouring’ introduced to the products. Unfortunately this is likely to continue and grow as the constraint supply will be squeezed even tighter and demand will only grow with population growth. The good old true chocolates will soon the out of reach for many. Shame.

I’m in love with the fact you have that tree growing. Its going to be so amazing and special when it gets fruit. I can see you making your own special chocolate.

As a fellow chocolate lover I can say that after watching this I have a STRONG desire to try some actually good chocolate (because for my uncultured tongue the Lindt seems great) 😅

It really does suck that colesworth seemingly adamantly refuse to stock any fair trade chocolate, and insist on only stocking chocolate from slaver companies. I have to look a lot harder and pay a lot more to get actually decent chocolate that is slavery-free.

Making chocolate is such a complicated process it makes me wonder how anyone discovered it.

00:25 🍫 Different types of cocoa beans result in distinct chocolate flavors. 03:33 🌍 The location where cocoa beans are grown significantly influences chocolate flavor. 07:35 🍇 Fermentation is a critical step in developing the flavor of cocoa beans. 09:19 🕒 Even a minor change in fermentation time affects the flavor profile of the chocolate. 11:53 🌐 Many cocoa farmers have never tasted chocolate made from their own beans, which highlights the need for better education and communication in the industry. 14:47 🔬 Conching, a process that refines chocolate texture, can either enhance or diminish flavors depending on itsduration.

This is a problem in the coffee world, too. There are so many parallels between chocolate and coffee. Comparison tasting is also massively helpful for both. Excellent work.

If I was a middle school science teacher, I would use these videos as chapter enrichments. Complex ideas presented in a easy understandable way. Love this.

I know exactly what he meant at 4:56 We had these huge Hoya plants in our house as a kid, and when they'd bloom, the flowers begin forming little nectar beads and drip. That nectar had a very distinct, sweet, almost rose-like flavor. Not sure if you can straight up eat the flower, but the nectar was totally safe.

This was utterly fascinating!! Thank you for the time you obviously put into this. ❤

This channel consistently shows me that the world is a much more complex and interesting place if you take the time to look into it. Thank you Ann!

as a botanist i am so glad you mentioned how environment affects how plants grow and taste. so many people dont realize how even slight soil pH or nutrient changes, rainfall, or humidity affect how your food tastes and medicine works!

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of going to the Dominican Republic with family. We went on a tour of a cacao farm. We saw all the stages Ann mentioned, from fruits being harvested to fermentation to drying. The owner of the farm roasted a few of the beans himself over wood coals, and then roughly ground them with a metate. I got to try some, and it tasted nutty, chocolaty, and a little bit like coffee. It was an experience I hope I never forget.

I love all of your debunking and cake save videos, but this was so educational, I loved it! ❤

My great grandma's village in Ghana also farms cocoa .. You'll mostly go and meet some cocoa beans being fermented ..So beautiful to see .and I'm glad My country was mentioned 😊❤️Ghana 🇬🇭

i noticed one of the chocolate bars you bought is from Zotter. they are a well known higher end chocolate company from Austria. and they actually have a chocolate factory in Austria that you can visit. they provide tours and you can try so so so much chocolate it's incredible. you get to try the different kinds of chocolate at different stages in the process, they even let you try some cocoa beans. it's a super fun day out for anyone and also quite educational

"This chocolate - by comparison - tastes bland" *pulls out the most expensive chocolate available in my local supermarket*

Wow! I love these educational videos you make Ann. And this one was especially fascinating! Thank you.

I had a subscription box for chocolate a while back and it was only then I started to realise chocolate tastes so different from the supermarket bars I was used to - you can taste the fermentation, there’s so much character in it. Anyway, after the subscription ended chocolate was of course ruined for me 😂

In Modica (Sicily-Italy) they keep doing chocolate using manual grinding in a cold environment so that the sugar doesn’t really dissolve. The grainy texture makes this chocolate otherworldly! To all travelers who would like to visit Sicily, make a stop in Modica and you won’t regret it at all! All the love ❤

Food science really is fascinating! Had no idea chocolate was a result of fermentation. Edit: they just ran a Lindt ad on top of your video 😂

This was absolutely fascinating! Thank you, Anne! Your videos are informative and interesting and fun!

I think the real irony is, when Lindt put in back variety into chocolate by adding all sorts of extra stuff like chili or fruits, when they worked so hard to get rid of it.

I once tasted some really dark belgian choclate brought to me by a friend from Luxembourg. It was something like 80 or even 90% cocoa and normally I find anything over around 50% to bitter. But this one was AMAZING. It was the best chocolate I've ever tasted. It wasn't even bitter at all, but I can't describe the flavour anymore. It's been almost six years and I still regularly think about this chocolate. I never could wrap my head around why this one was so diffrent from the dark chocolates I normally knew - until now. I would have never thought that there are so much diffrences between cocoa beans, or in how many countries cocoa is grown. Thank you! It also explains why powdered cocoa/ hot chocolate can taste extremly diffrent depending on the brand.

You've inspired me. My husband (who doesn't really care for chocolate) and I (who loves chocolate) bought fancy chocolate that's from specific places and fermented for certain lengths and roasted certain amounts. And I love chocolate even more now! It's so cool and complex. And my husband has figured out he likes chocolate less and really does prefer white chocolate and the least like chocolate chocolate you can buy. Lol.

Amazing description and step by step explanation. I really appreciate your content. Thank you!

One day I tasted the chocolate from an old little shop run by a family of chocolate makers since 1930 and I discovered REAL chocolate! It’s just like all another food: I usually don’t really like chocolate, but that one is different. Please support your local shops, sometimes you can find incredible thing thanks to them!

I knew NONE of this going in. As always, Ann, you never fail to educate AND entertain. (Always nice to see Dave & the boys again, as well.) Thanks!

This was so interesting and informative! Thank you Ann for all your research and hard work in putting this video together!

Impressive and educational! Thanks as always, Ann!

Your son's tasting notes of dirt from the floor mixed with grass had me in stitches but also very impressed

First of all, I'm so excited that you picked a bar of Zotter chocolate, because its "home-base" is close to where I'm from (you can visit the factory, watch the chocolate-making process, "taste" every step of the journey from bean to bar, and later have an all-you-can-eat of selected flavours and products) Also, I just love the quality of your videos so much; you take so much care to be nuanced and factual. I absolutely loved everything about this video!

I worked at an orphanage in the Philippines for several years and we grew our own cacao and made our own chocolate. 😋 Mmmmm, good. And the fleshy fruit part? Delicious!

Lovely video and eye opening, had no idea about such differences! :)

This is why I love Ann!! You aren’t just telling us about the different chocolate, but going in depth with similarities, differences, and using people to compare. I now want to go out and try different types of chocolate because of you!!

Really happy to see the Philippines mentioned here! We've had quite a history with chocolate as it was first introduced to us by the Spaniards during the galleon trade with Mexico in the 17th century. It's even made its way to our traditional cuisine with dishes like champorado and tablea chocolate (it's pretty common to find chocolate cakes and desserts here marketed as made with tablea to indicate that it's a very dark chocolate) That said our own local artisinal chocolate scene is pretty recent. There's been efforts by these local companies like Auro, Malagos, etc. to spotlight homegrown chocolates, and they are slowly getting more mainstream like getting sold in big Philippine supermarket chains instead of just their own specialty stores, and even win international awards. I'm really happy to see our chocolate get more recognition outside the country! Cheers Anne!

Thanks for all you do!! Love your channel!

Ann, ,your videos are always so well thoughtfully made. Truly some of RU-vids best.

This was a great taste test. We have a chocolate shop near me called The Meadow and they carry so so so many single origins bars, bars that have unique tastes and techniques, bars from all over the world. If you haven't had the pleasure of trying single origin or artisan chocolate, it will change your life.

The boys were actually VERY descriptive with their tastings, " ripe bananer and butterscotch" I'm impressed with how specific they were :)

Im obsessed with your channel! I love these informative videos and debunkin ones. Please do more of those! :)

Wow, I've learned so much about chocolate in under 20 min! And very clearly and interestingly presented as well ;) Thank you, Ann!

My sister gave me a single origin chocolate bar and I can honestly say that I tasted fruits while eating it. I even checked the label to see if I was eating a fruit and nut bar but it wasn't. Just some good quality chocolate.

I went to a workshop on chocolate and they had samples from all over the world for every stage of the production, when they offered us the raw cocoa bean we were shocked and disgusted! There was a room were you could smell the beans from different countries, they all had a specific fragrance, so cool!

Absolutely fascinating. Thank you.

Thanks Anne! This was such an insightful and interesting topic to listen to you explain. Its amazing how little I know about something I eat on a regular basis. Also, your hair is looking absolutely gorgeous, as always.

I think this is my favorite H2CT video yet. Excellent information density paired with really good visuals (I really adored the map, especially what you did at 6:36). The flavor interviews were really powerful- they did a superb job showing the variation between different regions' beans, and it was particularly telling that even though people didn't describe the beans in the exact same terms, everyone still tended to cluster around flavor profiles unique to each bean. That there were *preferences* rather than "this one is good and this one is bad" made me think about what kind of experience we could all be having as chocolate consumers. This video has certainly inspired me to investigate further on my own!

I was lucky enough to have a friend from El Salvador that lived in the jungle; her family made molcajette fudge (cocoa + rock sugar ground together into a paste and dried) it was somewhat chalky, and it was THE BEST chocolate I have ever had in my life. The abundance of flavors and smell was like no chocolate I had ever had or have had since.

I love these videos so much. Thanks for your hard work, and props to your family for being such good sports.

Wow it's been a long time since I tuned into your channel, and I just gotta say: Your progress in terms of videography quality is super apparent! Great work!

This reminds me a lot of the difference between commercial and specialty coffee. The process is slightly different but it seems there are more similarities than differences. I also note that your eldest has really good vocabulary for tasting. You've clearly taught him well!

Haha this reminds me so much of culinary school. Most of my classmates agree that Lindt is bland as a chocolate. However I argue that this is advantageous during chocolate bon bon making because then you can really concentrate on the filling, almost like a blank canvas. Would love a part 2 of this video where you explain how ruby chocolate is made!

Such an interesting video! Please more of these!

Thank you so much for this video! This was incredibly informative and now I can’t wait to go visit my little local chocolate shop to find some interesting bars! ❤

This video just made me go out and spend £100+ at London Chocolate since they do single source chocolate bars. It was crazy to me how good dark chocolate could taste, and how different each of the bars could be, even with it just being cocao and sugar. Thank you, Ann!

Last year, I did a brownie tasting at an upscale chocolatier - each brownie was made using different chocolates from different locales. It was funny because everyone asked me, did they really even taste different? Yes, absolutely! One was very fruity and tangy (like raspberries and yogurt), one was very sweet and floral (like honey), and one was very fudgy and a little savory (think like brushing olive oil on brownies). I've completely stopped buying mass-produced chocolate, and it is pretty shocking how bland it tastes after you make the switch.

Love this new style for your content. It truly shows off your food scientist experience/knowledge in a palatable way for a broad audience that doesn't compromise the science. Would love similar videos about the effects of baking/cooking methods & other flavors like vanilla. Vanilla is a complex flavor but gets a truly bad rep due to imitation extracts. Same for almond & cinnamon. This is truly fascinating for someone who doesn't care much for chocolate. My frontal lobe has been reopened culinarily. 💜

I'm sure it also has to do with ingredients. I've noticed a lot of chocolates in my country (Mexico) have slowly introduced or replaced some ingredients in their formulas with different types of vegetable oils. Up until a few years back, mainstream stuff like M&M's and other chocolates under the Mars' brand (Milky Way, Snickers, Dove, etc) were quite good. Same with Hershey's chocolate (bars, kisses, etc). They were not top tier, but were fairly decent. But then they changed their formula and now every single one of them feels like you're eating crayons due to that oily-ish texture they have and that fake chocolate taste. It's almost like eating those fake chocolates they sell here called Cremino (which is like tons of vegetable fat flavored and colored to look like chocolate). Right now, I think one of the few brands that still makes some pretty nice chocolate here is Turin, though it is now propriety of Mars, so it is only a matter of time before they start changing formulas for those as well. Not sure if it's the same for all countries, but Crunch and Kit Kats (both from Nestlé) are pretty decent here too.

I love how your husband’s reactions are often just “not nice” or “I like it” 😂. Very cute.

I love your boys (including Dave)! They are all so thoughtful and articulate. The taste tests are the best, because the way they express their impressions make me almost feel like I’m getting a taste, too 😊 Clever and creative!

I loved every single moment of this video and would love to see more like it: history, comparisons, taste tests across multiple participants, current processes, small producers, and science, science, science!

Truly great job. Thanks for all this info.

I feel a weird sense of kinship, when I see how grown up your kids are getting. Thanks for you continuing efforts! Your videos keep getting better without losing the authenticity and personal charm of your early content.

I'm proud of our booming infant chocolate industry. Even though it only recently started few years ago, our local producers were able to produce world class cacao beans and chocolate products that are starting to get attention in the international stage. Thank you for including the cholate industry of the Philippines. BTW, I'm eating a coffee-dark chocolate bar produced from Davao right now. :)

This was a surprisingly good description of the issues involved in making a good chocolate. As a former chocolatier from Trinidad, where the Trinitario type of cocoa originated, I was proud to make chocolate that was made in the same estate in which it was grown. For some of the finest chocolate in the world, it's worth searching out Trinidad and Tobago Fine Cocoa Company's bars.

Excellent video. I learned lots. Thank you Ann

Love these deep dives!

I am a chocolatier and work in a small bear-to-bar chocolaterie and regularly do chocolate tastings with people. They are always so surpised as to all the different flavours 😊

I remember visiting a Cacao plantation, in the mountains of Sucre, Venezuela. All the plantation belonged to a single family that lived around it, below the trees, above those evergreen mountains, always humid, with very little light reaching the ground, because of the very high trees that grew above, and the cacao was fuchsia, or orange, or both. That family happened to be MY family by my mother's side. All those people were actually my cousins, or uncles and aunties. I will never forget that trip.

Such an in depth experiment thanks!

such an amazing insights about chocolate! I feel like some local chocolate bars do not really match my taste, but I now realized that maybe it's really just because I'm already accustomed to the big brands' products. Sometimes, some variations are indeed exciting to try and learn more :) Thank you Ann!

As a former chocolatier, I thought I knew a lot about chocolate. I have specific chocolate makers that are my go-to for product, but I never really thought about WHY. This was a highly informative and highly entertaining video! Such engrossing delivery and format, and I learned so much. Thank you for this video!

I’d love to see a part 2 about the “pre-Lindt process” chocolates (done without conching), since some are still made that way and that’s closer to how chocolate was made in central and South America. The texture and flavour changes SO much since you can feel each ingredients so clearly and distinctly because they haven’t melted.

I am from Brasil and I've seen some people have cacau growing in ther yard and make the cocoa beans powder to use in cakes and stuff like that. It's really nice