Sustainable food tech startup makes "huge leap" in bringing world first cacao-free chocolate to market

London based food tech startup WNWN Food Labs has made a “huge leap” in sustainable and ethical food production with the release of the first cacao-free chocolate for sale to consumers.

In less than a year since the company’s $1m pre-seed funding, WNWN has developed its proprietary process to transform sustainable, plant-based ingredients using technology and traditional fermentation techniques into a cacao-free product that “tastes, melts, snaps and even bakes like the original”.

The limited edition release of boxes of WNWN’s chocolate thins marks significant progression in the world of alt-food production, with the UK company being the first in the world to bring a cacao-free product to market.

Providing more choice to “ethically minded, flavour-focused consumers”, WNWN’s creation is not only cacao-free, but vegan, caffeine-free, gluten-free, palm oil-free and lower in sugar than comparable products.

Ahrum Pak, co-founder and CEO of WNWN, says: “At WNWN, we love food - we’re not anti-chocolate. We want to offer consumers that all-important choice when choosing a chocolate product; a choice that does not support the unethical and unsustainable practices baked into most mainstream chocolate production.”

Dr Johnny Drain, co-founder and CTO of WNWN, added: “With an absence of meaningful UK regulation, now and for the foreseeable future, we’re opening up the space for British chocolate consumers to buy ethically - essentially taking matters into their own hands.”

WNWN’s first product - using ingredients including British barley, carob and organic shea butter, is a cacao-free chocolate with notes of sticky toffee pudding, dates, cherries, and a rich, buttery finish. In blind taste tests alongside cacao-based chocolate, the products were described by consumers as “very similar”.

Dr Drain noted: “Using fermentation we’re able to create a suite of similar flavour compounds found in cacao. We can dial up certain flavours and even adjust the acidity to bring out notes found in premium single-origin chocolates.”