Sweet Science: SoFla Docs Making Better Chocolate

Experts decode cacao genes in Coral Gables

Decoding genomes, DNA testing and examining germplasm all sound like heady stuff, perhaps related to curing cancer or some other deadly disease. But for a group of scientists in Miami, it's all about chocolate.

Biochemists and plant geneticists in South Florida have been hard at work studying chocolate and where it comes from, in the hopes that decoding the cacao genome might help everyone from farmers to candy bar cravers.

This Saturday, at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden's International Chocolate Festival in Coral Gables, geneticist Dr. Raymond Schnell will discuss his chocolatey research, according to the Miami Herald.

Schnell and his group of scientists have been working with the Mars Candy Company for the past ten years to identify specimens of cacao. The hope is that by decoding the genes, it could make it easier to breed better chocolate, which will grow faster and be more resistant to weather and pests.

Maybe after they figure out the whole chocolate thing, there'll be time for diabetes research.

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