Ruby chocolate launched in North America

Barry Callebaut has launched ruby chocolate in North America. Known as the fourth type, ruby chocolate has been welcomed by artisans, brands and consumers across the globe. It’s now broadly available in the biggest chocolate and confectionery market, the U.S., as well as in Canada.

Barry Callebaut’s ruby has a new and unique sensory profile – a tension between fresh berry-fruitiness and luscious smoothness – unlocked from pure cocoa beans that are specially chosen for their ruby properties, without adding berry flavors or colours. With its one-of-a-kind taste and colour, ruby satisfies a different consumer need than dark, milk and white chocolate, providing chefs, artisans and chocolatiers unlimited product pairing opportunities, including bars and tablets, bonbons, pastries, desserts and more.

Fueled by the overwhelming consumer response around the globe, Barry Callebaut collaborated with a small group of pioneering artisans over the last six months to soft launch ruby in the U.S. marketplace. The sales of those consumer products have been very strong. As a result, to help ensure that its business partners have access to the product, Barry Callebout feels that now is the time to take the next step in its global roll-out campaign, and introduce ruby to the entire North American market, said Peter Boone, CEO and president, Barry Callebaut Americas

To obtain a U.S. standard of identity for the breakthrough innovation, Barry Callebaut is working closely with the FDA to begin test marketing ruby as a new chocolate product in the U.S., with the ultimate goal of establishing a new standard of identity reflecting ruby’s distinctive sensory profile.

In the meantime, ruby will be launched in the U.S. as ruby couverture. The artisan proposition, Callebaut® RB1 Couverture, will be celebrated at a private chef-led event in Miami, FL, on Monday, May 20, 2019; the Food Manufacturer offering, Barry Callebaut Ruby, will be spotlighted at the National Confectioners Association’s (NCA’s) Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, IL, on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Both events will feature chef demonstrations, product application sessions, and sampling.

Preceding the formal launch of ruby in North America, Barry Callebaut won the NCA’s “Most Innovative Supplier” award in recognition of ruby in 2018, and globally-renowned U.S. late-night television show Saturday Night Live featured ruby in a skit. Hollywood also had a taste of ruby at the Official Afterparty of the 2018 Academy Awards.

This innovation, which has been in the making for more than 10 years, was crafted by leveraging the knowledge of Barry Callebaut’s global network of 28 R&D centers, Jacobs University Bremen (Germany), and over 175 years of expertise in sourcing and manufacturing. According to many experts, ruby is one of the biggest breakthroughs in the world of chocolate in the past 80 years.

For more information about ruby in the U.S., visit www.barry-callebaut.com/ruby-is-here.