食物科学家研制出粉红色巧克力

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About 80 years ago, food scientists introduced the world to white chocolate. Until this week, it was the last new kind of chocolate to enter the world market.

But now, scientists have invented a pink-colored chocolate.

It joins the likes of white, dark, and milk chocolate.

A chocolate manufacturer in Switzerland launched the new product Tuesday in Shanghai, China.

The chocolate company Barry Callebaut says that the pink color comes from the “ruby” cocoa bean. The color, the company adds, is natural. It has an “intense” and “fresh berry” taste.

The Financial Times reports that ruby cocoa beans grow in Ecuador, Brazil, the Ivory Coast and other countries.

Scientists worked for more than 10 years to develop ruby chocolate.

Barry Callebaut is the world’s biggest supplier of cocoa. Chocolate makers around the world use its cocoa to make candy and chocolate products. The company said in a statement that it developed the new chocolate with millennials in mind. Millennials are people born in the 1980s or 1990s.

Scientists Have Developed A Fourth Type Of Chocolate...and Its Millennial Pink!

— DrinksFeed (@drinksfeed) September 6, 2017
Millennials and others around the world reacted to the news of ruby chocolate on social media.

on the brighter side of the day, they just invented? discovered? ruby chocolate and it's !! pink !! just a news i wanna share.

— luda. (@lldero) September 6, 2017
OMG There's a new type of #CHOCOLATE  called RUBY made from pink red cocoa beans,  It's supposedly fruity and smooth. can't wait to try it😄

— mike millar (@millar_windy66) September 6, 2017
Barry Callebaut is hopeful that ruby chocolate becomes popular in China. The company’s chief told reporters that it did research on the chocolate market in China, and explained that “ruby chocolate tested incredibly well in China.”

Ruby chocolate products are expected to be available in stores in about six months.

And that’s What’s Trending Today…

Ashley Thompson wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter edited it.