Referred to by Swedish botanist Charles Linnaeus as the "food of the gods", chocolate has also found its way into vegetable genetics programs. In the 1970s, Syngenta created the first chocolate-colored tomato on the market. Half a century later, Rijk Zwaan developed a new vegetable with an intense and shiny dark brown color: the Palermo pepper, and today the "chocolate" concept is expanding with a new eggplant thanks to Beyond Seeds, which has presented its beChoc eggplant in Almeria.
"beChoc is the result of a breeding program in which we have made use of genetics from wild eggplant species with the aim of developing new species and expanding the genetic diversity of eggplant as a species," says Francisco Bermúdez, from Beyond Seeds.
"We have obtained an elongated, Japanese-type eggplant with a unique brown color that, apart from its appearance, gives beChoc new organoleptic characteristics. As a result of the chlorophyll pigments that give beChoc its brown color, the flesh has a very mild herbal taste. Moreover, thanks to these high levels of chlorogenic acid our eggplant has a high nutritional value," he says.
"This compound has a high antioxidant capacity, as well as anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective and anti-diabetic properties. Therefore, beChoc is not just a tasty, versatile and not very fibrous eggplant, ideal for frying because it is less lipophilic than other eggplants, but also a functional food," says Francisco.
"beChoc will be the first brown eggplant in a range that we are developing under this concept, and next year we will present three more with which we will complete the chocolate eggplant line," says Francisco Bermúdez.
"The production and marketing of beChoc will be open to any companies willing to work with it"
Beyond Seeds has presented its beChoc eggplant in Almeria, at the Gastronomic Center of chef Tony García, with the presence of the prestigious Belgian chef Frank Fol, author of the vegetarian restaurant guide We're Smart Guide, considered a global reference in this segment, and patron of the Beyond Seeds Foundation, Cellbitec.
"We share his philosophy, and through our alliance with Frank Fol's We're Smart World, we are promoting the benefits of vegetables and of the products we develop, such as beChoc," says Francisco.
"Today, 50% of the vegetable products we consume belong to four cereal species and a few other leguminous species, and the other 50% of vegetables is divided between some 25 species; however, some 300,000 plant species have been forgotten due to the domestication of species by humans and factors such as capitalism," he says.
"With our work at Beyond Seeds, we are trying to recover this lost biodiversity, while also strengthening our social commitment. The royalties and profits we obtain from the sale of our seeds and specialties go to our foundation, which is devoted to fighting cancer and degenerative diseases," says Francisco.
It is worth noting that this eggplant is not excessively different from other traditional eggplants and is highly adaptable, as it can be grown both in both the fall-winter cycle and in the spring-summer one. "The production and marketing of beChoc will be open to any companies willing to work with it," he says.
For more information:
Beyond Seeds
Sede Científica PITA. Campus de la UAL
04120 Almería, Spain
Tel.: +34 950 21 45 48
https://beyond-seeds.com