US start-up California Cultured has filed a patent covering the production of cocoa butter in plant cell culture, AgFunderNews (AFN) reported.
The company, which has a 10-year offtake deal with Japanese chocolate company Meiji, announced plans in May to build a pilot plant in Sacramento, California, with commercial production of cocoa flavanols and powder using callus cells expected to start in the second or third quarter of 2026, the 16 September report said.
In addition, the company had been working on the production of cocoa butter using somatic embryos, which are formed by re-programming somatic cells (non-reproductive cells) from cacao plant tissue into an embryo-like structure, AFN wrote.
“Unlike callus cells, somatic embryos naturally produce high levels of fat, and more importantly, the critical triglycerides … that define cocoa butter,” California Cultured’s head of strategy and business development Steve Stearns told AFN.
“These triglycerides are what make cocoa butter solid at room temperature but quick to melt in your mouth.”
According to Stearns, although somatic embryos have been used for clonal propagation of whole cacao plants, they have not been used in the production of fats in plant cell culture.
“We took a broad approach with the patent. It covers all methods of processing chocolate that rely on somatic embryos,” Stearns said.
The company’s new patent refers to cells that produce at least 10% lipids.
“We need to get to at least 30% cocoa butter moving forward, but we’re also planning to use this particular cell line for multiple applications, of which cocoa butter is one,” he added.
With volatile cocoa prices, food companies have been exploring a range of alternatives for cocoa powder, from plant cell culture to upcycled agriculture products, but replacing cocoa butter was more challenging, according to Stearns.
“For years, companies have been trying to replace cocoa butter, and they have used things like hydrolysed palm fats and shea butter, but they don’t have the same melting profile as cocoa butter and they can have a greasy feel,” he said.
Firms trying to replicate the melting properties of cocoa butter with fats produced via microbial fermentation have the same problems, according to Stearns.
“There are a tonne of microbes that can produce triglycerides, but they can’t produce them in the right ratios. There is also a standard of identity for chocolate [in many countries] that requires cocoa butter.”
Work in cocoa cell culture had relied on callus cells – mature cells that have been ‘de-differentiated’ to behave more like stem cells – he explained.
“The challenge with callus cells is fundamental: they can make excellent cocoa powder, but they simply don’t produce fat. Without fat, you can’t replicate the qualities and the melting properties that make real chocolate,” he added.
