How Do You Save the World’s Chocolate Supply? California Cultured & Voyage Foods Are Reinventing Chocolate

Shortages of chips and diesel fuel have hit headlines. But a different shortage hit headlines this week: chocolate.

The world's supply of cocoa beans is in crisis. Extreme weather, with drought followed by flooding, has damaged harvests. And economic crises have also left many growers too poor to upgrade their farming practices, so yields stay fragile.

Two SOSV portfolio companies were recently featured in a Wall Street Journal for their alternative and sustainable chocolate innovations:

• Voyage Foods' product is made from roasted and ground grapeseeds left over from the winemaking industry, blended with sunflower protein flour, palm and shea oils, sugar and natural flavors. Their new, 284,000-square-foot factory in Ohio is operational and able to produce 10,000 metric tons of cocoa substitute yearly.
• California Cultured uses a natural fermentation to cultivate a resilient, regenerative bean cells in flavanols, absent of heavy metals sometimes found in dark chocolate.