Engineering The Impossible

Chocolatiers from the Nestlé Product Technology Centre in York took up a challenge by BBC1's One Show to create a chocolate teapot. The team managed to develop a method for pouring the water to ensure that the tea did not turn into hot chocolate.

Master Chocolatiers John Costello and Jan Kuendiger from Nestlé helped One Show presenter Marty Jopson to 'engineer the impossible' by creating this breakthrough innovation which has helped to solve the age-old conundrum.

John Costello, Nestlé Master Chocolatier said: "Interestingly, if you pour the water in a certain way and you don't stir inside but just let it settle, and then brew like you would normally brew a cup of tea, the chocolate on the inside of the shell melts but doesn't move anywhere."

The process involved building the teapot in layers of silicon mould which took more than two hours but the challenge was to avoid the chocolate teapot from tainting the brew inside.

The PTC in York is Nestlé's centre of excellence and is responsible for developing new technologies and innovative products, as well as providing help and technical assistance to Nestlé operating companies around the world. New developments and modifications of existing products are created in the development laboratory and confectionery kitchen. These products, designed to delight our consumers, are tasted and evaluated by trained sensory panels.

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