On February 10th, we held a program called "Chocolate Science" with Mr. En Mochida from the University of Tokyo Institute for Solid State Physics as the instructor. The participants experienced the differences in chocolate properties caused by the different crystal forms.

Chocolate's snap when bitten and smooth melting in the mouth are created by the properties of the cocoa butter crystals. We made two types of chocolate: "simple cooling," where the melted chocolate is simply put in a mold and cooled, and "tempering," where the chocolate is cooled to 25-26°C, then warmed again to 31-32°C, and then cooled. We observed and tasted each chocolate, plotted the characteristics on a graph, and shared the results. We experienced the differences in crystal form, appearance, snap, and melting caused by the difference in cooling methods.

Some of the comments from the participants were:

• "I learned a lot about the texture of chocolate."
• "I was surprised to learn that the world of chocolate is so much bigger than I thought!"
• "This was a very interesting lecture, especially for those with some knowledge of chemistry."

We are glad that the participants enjoyed the program and learned something new about chocolate.