A unique chocolate has been created at Nestlé using only the beans and pulp of the cocoa fruit and bypassing the need for any refined sugar.

The food giant is planning to launch the first product using this new approach in Japan this autumn through its KitKat Chocolatory.

Next year will see a wider rollout with some of Nestlé’s most popular confectionery brands made using the same recipe.

Nestlé has developed a natural approach, which allows it to extract the pulp and use it in chocolate with “no compromise on taste, texture and quality”.

Until now chocolate has been made with the addition of refined sugars. This patented innovation delivers a great tasting chocolate using only one ingredient – the cocoa fruit.

“We’re proud to bring chocolate lovers a new chocolate made entirely from the cocoa fruit without adding refined sugar,” said Patrice Bula, Head of Strategic Business Units, Marketing and Sales at Nestlé.

“This is a real innovation which uses the natural sweetness of the cocoa pulp to provide a pure, novel chocolate experience.”

The cocoa fruit contains cocoa beans and cocoa pulp. The pulp surrounds the beans, it is soft, sweet and white in colour.

Some of the pulp is used in the fermentation of the cocoa beans after they are harvested, but a significant proportion is usually removed and the value is lost. Until now it has not been used as an ingredient to naturally sweeten chocolate.