Another day, another amazing Israeli invention: lab-grown cocoa butter.
An Israeli food technology startup says it has succeeded in producing chocolate using cocoa butter grown in a bioreactor, a development that could signal a shift in how one of the world’s most climate-sensitive commodities is sourced.
Celleste Bio announced it has produced milk chocolate bars using cocoa butter grown through cell suspension culture technology, rather than harvested from cocoa trees. The bars, created in collaboration with Mondelēz International, are described as meeting the same consumption and quality standards as conventional chocolate products.
The development marks a notable step in efforts to address mounting pressures on the global cocoa supply chain, which has been strained by climate change, crop disease, and geopolitical instability. Cocoa butter, the fat extracted from cocoa beans, is a critical ingredient that determines chocolate’s texture, melting behavior, and overall sensory experience. Replicating it has posed a significant technical challenge.
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If realized, such capabilities would represent a shift from agriculture-defined inputs to engineered ones, potentially giving manufacturers greater control over product characteristics.
The environmental argument is equally central to the company’s pitch. Traditional cocoa cultivation requires significant land use and is closely linked to deforestation in some regions. Celleste says its process could dramatically reduce that footprint. According to its chief technical and scientific officer, a single cocoa bean could be used to generate up to one ton of cocoa butter annually in a 1,000-liter bioreactor, an output that would otherwise require about a hectare of cocoa trees.
Despite the environmental benefits, no doubt the Greta Thunbergs of the world will boycott it, because Israel.
One hater to already hate on this is Ahmed El Sayed Imam (aka Abarai Mido), the terror–supporting owner of Perth’s Sinamon cafe:
Leaving aside the weird-ass video accompanying his post (giving me Sopranos vibes), what’s he calling slop?:
And in addition to the benefits – environmental and otherwise – of lab-grown cocoa butter, I am sure the Israeli company doesn’t underpay its workers.
So pick your side: the one engineering a future where the world can enjoy its favorite treats without destroying the planet’s rainforests vs the other so blinded by hate that they’d rather cling to their biases than embrace a more ethical, sustainable world.
