Lab-Grown Chocolate Is in the News. Here's What's in Our Bins Instead.
You might have heard about lab-grown chocolate lately. It's real. It's also not in Australian shops.
Here's the quick version, and what we stock instead.
What is it?
Cocoa cells grown in steel tanks, not on trees. The cells come from a real cocoa bean. They're fed nutrients until there's enough to make cocoa butter or cocoa powder.
So it isn't a fake or a flavouring. It's real cocoa that skipped the farm.
Why is it happening?
Cocoa is getting harder to grow. The Associated Press reports that climate change is stressing the rainforests cocoa comes from, and prices have jumped.
So the big companies are looking for a backup. The owner of Cadbury has funded a lab-grown cocoa startup since 2022 and has made test bars with it. Lindt is exploring it too.
Is it in the shops here?
No. Those were test bars.
In Australia, a food like this has to be approved by our food regulator before it's sold, and it would have to say "cell-cultured" on the label. As of mid-2025, no regulator anywhere in the world had approved lab-grown cocoa.
Is it bad for you? Nobody knows yet. There's no evidence it's harmful, and no track record either.
The bigger question for us is the farmers. About three-quarters of the world's cocoa is grown in West and Central Africa, and whole communities rely on it. If the biggest buyers start growing their own in tanks, what happens to those families? Nobody has a good answer yet.
We like food that's grown, with a short ingredient list. That's how we choose what we stock. But it's your call, and when lab-grown cocoa does arrive, the label will tell you.
What's in chocolate right now
This is the bit you can check today. Next time you're at the supermarket in the Bay or Moruya, flip a block over.
A block of Cadbury Dairy Milk is about 55 g of sugar per 100 g. The cocoa is 27%. That's from the pack.
To put that in lunchbox terms: four or five squares is about three and a half teaspoons of sugar.
We're not telling you to stop eating it. We just think you should know.
Three quick checks work on any block:
- Where is sugar in the ingredients? They're listed from most to least. If sugar is first or second, it's doing most of the work.
- What's the cocoa percentage? More cocoa leaves less room for sugar. A 70% dark usually has around half the sugar of milk chocolate.
- How long is the list? Good chocolate needs cocoa, cocoa butter, something sweet, and maybe milk and vanilla. Not much else.
What we stock instead
Organic dark chocolate drops. 70% cacao and dairy free. More cocoa, less of everything else.
Carob buttons. No added sugar and no caffeine. Good for kids, and good after dinner.
Carob peppermint slab. Creamy and minty. Contains dairy and soy.
New to carob? It comes from the pod of the carob tree, dried, roasted and ground like cocoa. It's naturally sweet, which is why the buttons need no added sugar. And it has none of the caffeine or theobromine found in chocolate, which is why a lot of parents pick it for after dinner. The taste is mellower than chocolate, a bit like caramel.
They're made by Lucia Chocolates, a family business on the Gold Coast that's been at it since 1994. Their carob is grown in Australia.
Two honest notes. Carob is still a treat, not a health food. And Lucia's carob contains certified sustainable palm kernel oil. We'd rather you heard that from us.
Come and have a taste
It's all in the bulk bins, so grab a handful before you fill a jar.
We're at 1/21 Sydney St, Mogo. Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm. Can't get in? We deliver free locally on orders over $30.
👉 Organic dark chocolate drops
👉 Carob buttons
👉 Carob peppermint slab
Label information for supermarket chocolate was taken from retailer product listings in October 2026. Recipes change, so check the pack.
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