A sweet treat

Unexpected Elements

BBC

Science

4.4 • 565 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A dip in global cocoa prices got the Unexpected Elements team wondering about chocolate science.

First, we look at how the microbial communities in cocoa beans fine tune the taste of chocolate. Also, could table sugar help us detect the missing bits of the universe? We look at how three elements in sugar were used in the hunt for dark matter.

We’re then joined by Professor of Experimental Psychology Charles Spence, who explains the myriad ways that taste can be influenced – including the shape and name of chocolate, and even the music we listen to as we eat it. Plus, we hear about the rediscovery of a moth in South Africa that was lost to science for 150 years.

And finally, why we cry when we chop onions and the insects that pollinate the cocoa tree. That’s all on this week’s Unexpected Elements.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Candice Bailey and Sandy Ong Producers: Sophie Ormiston, with Lucy Davies, Tim Dodd, Imy Harper and Margaret Sessa-Hawkins

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts.
0:05.6	Oh, hello. You have chosen a BBC podcast, but before you listen to it, we thought you might like our podcast too.
0:12.1	You might. You might. It is called Sightraught with me Nick Grimshaw.
0:15.2	And me, Annie Mack. And we talk about the week in music.
0:18.2	All the news, all the cultural happenings in the UK and beyond.
0:22.2	And great guests.
0:23.3	And it's on BBC Sounds.
0:24.7	Yes, where you can also enjoy lots of playlists, music mixes and live radio.
0:29.9	Everything from my six music breakfast show to Radio 3 Unwind.
0:34.5	But obviously start with our podcast, sidetrack.
0:36.3	Obviously.
0:36.7	Obviously.
0:38.2	So if you like music, listen on BBC Sounds.
0:43.7	In the Christian calendar, we're currently in Lent, the period of 40 days when, as kids, we'd be
0:50.8	encouraged to give up chocolate or sweets or anything that would test your willpower.
0:56.6	Mardi Gras was that last day to eat everything delicious before Lent, a time of frugality and self-denial.
1:04.6	Over in the Swiss city of Basel, this past week has been Fasnacht, a 72-hour carnival run with characteristic Swiss precision.
1:15.2	The party starts at precisely 4am, with parades, sweets thrown from trucks,
1:21.0	lots of drum and piccolo-based marching bands and delicious special pastries.
1:26.0	A lot of it is about mocking authority.
1:29.0	And as part of that, it's exactly during a time
1:31.8	when the church traditionally expected everyone to keep quiet
	...

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