First 100 per cent British chocolate bar in 94 years is made using UK-grown cocoa, milk and sugar

Published: 10:54, 13 August 2026 | Updated: 10:55, 13 August 2026 The first 100 per cent British chocolate bar in almost a century has been made using ingredients grown in the UK. When Britain last produced chocolate with home-grown cocoa, King George V was on the throne, Ramsay MacDonald was Prime Minister and a bar of the popular sweet treat cost just two pennies.  But now, a food security master's student at the University of Reading has managed to create the first bar since 1932 using modern scientific technology.   Maha Khan grew the cocoa pods in a climate-controlled centre at the university before they were harvested.  She then spread out and dried the beans in the English sun before they were crushed to make a powder, which was combined with British-grown sugar and milk.  The chocolate mix was then heated and made into a bar. It is only the second time such a bar has been produced. The last time, it was created by Rowntrees and gifted to then six-year-old Princess Elizabeth - who later became Queen Elizabeth II. Maha Khan (pictured), a food security master's student at the University of Reading, has created the first chocolate bar using only British ingredients in almost a century  Ms Khan said she hopes her project will demonstrate how much work goes into the chocolate we enjoy Ms Khan said: 'It has been amazing to follow the entire chocolate-making process, from pod to bean to bar, without leaving Reading.' She described the chocolate as 'delicious'. 'It's incredible to taste the complexity of the flavour profiles as the cocoa is made from plants originating from over 300 varieties grown here,' she said. While the UK's chocolate market is worth £10.4 billion, it is entirely reliant on imported cocoa, highlighting the importance of internationally traded food to global farmers, UK consumers and the economy.  The bars were made to highlight the effect of the climate crisis on cocoa plants. 'This British bar of chocolate highlights the precarious nature of our food supplies,' Ms Khan said. 'Cocoa plants are very sensitive to changes in temperature and rainfall, and climate change is already causing problems in countries that produce most of the world's cocoa. Ms Khan Khan grew the cocoa pods in a climate-controlled centre at the university before being harvested Pictured: The inside of the UK-grown cocoa pods before they were fermented  The beanswere then spread out and dried the beans in the English sun 'Protecting different varieties is vital if farmers need hardier plants that can cope with a changing climate.' The student added that she hopes her project will demonstrate how much work goes into the chocolate we enjoy and 'how important it is to protect cocoa farmers and communities around the world'. The creation of the British-grown chocolate bar showed the complex process required to turn the raw crop into a finished product. First, the cocoa was grown at the University of Reading's International Cocoa Quarantine Centre - a unique collection of more than 300 types of cocoa plant, which handles 97 per cent of the world's international movement of cocoa plants. The climate-controlled centre in Berkshire is carefully managed to prevent the spread of pests and diseases between different cocoa-growing regions of the world, while also providing scientists with the opportunity to study the plants. Cocoa pods from the centre's collection are usually removed unused, but were instead used as the source of the beans for the new chocolate bar. The first step involves breaking the pods open and removing the beans, fermenting them, before they are spread out and dried in the sun, and then roasted. Ms Khan then crushed and ground the beans to a consistent cocoa powder. Next, she combined it with British-grown sugar and milk to create a chocolate mix, which was then heated, shaped and formed into a ready-to-eat, entirely British chocolate bar. The final product was created after Ms Khan combined cocoas powder with British-grown sugar and milk to create a chocolate mix, which was then heated, shaped and formed into a ready-to-eat, entirely British chocolate bar  Rowntree's previous bar of UK-grown chocolate was made from a glasshouse-grown cocoa plant, at the Rowntree headquarters in York. Professor Carol Wagstaff, director of AgriFood Futures at the University of Reading, said: 'The UK chocolate industry rests on a supply chain that starts thousands of miles away in the tropics of Africa, South America and Asia. 'A resilient global market is crucial to the many smallholder farmers who underpin the industry and find themselves farming in some of the regions most exposed to risks from climate change, as well as to chocolate makers and chocolate lovers in the UK.' Only six limited edition bars have been made so far, but Maha hopes to make more.