Calorie reduction of chocolate ganache through substitution of whipped cream

Chocolate has been around for 3,000 years and is loved by many people for as long as its history. However, chocolate is classified as a high calorie food due to the high fat and sugar contents. These contents have negative effects on health, such as obesity, so some people have concerns about chocolate. Nevertheless, it has attracted more attention recently due to functional ingredients such as polyphenols and flavonoids of cacao, which is a main component of chocolate. This study was conducted to reduce the fat content in chocolate, which is the biggest disadvantage of chocolate. We investigated the physicochemical properties of different kinds of chocolate ganache made of whipped cream, milk, vegetable cream, and coconut milk. The whipped cream chocolate ganache was considered as the control group. The added ingredients affected moisture, crude fat, sugar contents, hardness, and influenced every result of the tests performed. The whipped cream chocolate ganache with the lowest moisture and highest fat contents showed the same result (the lowest moisture contents and highest fat contents; p < 0.05) and resulted in average hardness. The vegetable cream chocolate ganache showed similar results to that of the whipped cream's result above, except in the category of hardness. The vegetable cream chocolate ganache showed a high circumference, height, and hardness. Milk chocolate, with the highest moisture and lowest fat content, showed identical results with the whipped cream's result. In circumference, height and hardness, milk chocolate ganache showed the highest circumference (p < 0.05), a low height, and a similar value to whipped cream, but coconut milk also showed low values of circumferences and hardness. Overall, the whipped cream chocolate ganache was the most preferred chocolate in the sensory test, but the coconut milk chocolate ganache was the softest chocolate among the cream replacements. Because of its low caloric content and softness, coconut milk was considered suitable for making chocolate ganache. In conclusion, coconut milk may be the better ingredient for chocolate ganache than whipped cream in regard to caloric content and texture. Making chocolate ganache using coconut milk combined with alternative sweeteners such as tagatose, would be better for consumers' health.