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  • Polymorphism of Chocolate

Polymorphism of Chocolate

    How a material is constructed (its structure) determines its properties, for example how hard it is, its colour and how it melts. This is a very important area of research in the study of all materials, even in the case of chocolate.

    A key ingredient in chocolate is cocoa butter. Cocoa butter can be built up together in different ways, in 6 different ways to be precise!  These different constructions of cocoa butter are called polymorphs and they all melt at different temperatures.  This is important for chocolate as how the cocoa butter melts determines its texture (how the chocolate feels), which is a very important factor in its taste.

    In this video we will reveal the science behind producing the perfect chocolate bar and how we can use similar techniques to produce vitally important pharmaceutical medicines that can also be produced in a range of different polymorphs.

     

    This video is available to watch HERE.

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About Explorathon ’23

Explorathon  has received funding through the UKRI Horizon Europe Guarantee Fund under Grant Ref: EP/X020762/1.

It is delivered by a consortium of Scottish Universities:

  • University of Aberdeen
  • University of Glasgow
  • University of St Andrews
  • University of Strathclyde

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