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Reading makes 100 % British chocolate bar
A chocolate bar has been made in Reading using entirely British ingredients, with cocoa from not Brazil, nor Bali, but Berkshire.
The 100 % British chocolate bar was created at the University of Reading and named the Reading 100 Chocolate Bar, to mark the University’ s 100th anniversary.
The first documented all-British chocolate was made in 1932, when Rowntrees gifted a six-year-old Princess Elizabeth( later Queen Elizabeth II) a bar of UK-grown chocolate, making her the first person in history to eat one.
While the UK’ s chocolate 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.
Maha Khan( pictured, inset) is the University of Reading food security master’ s student who created the chocolate bar. She harvested, fermented, and processed the Reading-grown cocoa, before making the exclusive chocolate in the University’ s Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences.
She said:“ It has been amazing to follow the entire chocolate-making process, from pod to bean to bar, without leaving Reading.
“ This British bar of chocolate highlights the precarious nature of our food supplies. 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. Protecting different varieties is vital if farmers need hardier plants that can cope with a changing climate.
“ I hope this shows people just how much work goes into the chocolate we enjoy, and how important it is to protect cocoa farmers and communities around the world.”
The British-grown cocoa was grown at the University of Reading’ s International Cocoa
Food Security master’ s student Maha Khan
Quarantine Centre, a unique collection of more than 300 types of cocoa plant, which handles 97 % 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.
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.
Ericsson selected for UK’ s Tactical Communication Systems framework
The United Kingdom’ s Tactical Communication Systems framework is a major procurement vehicle valued at up to £ 8 billion over eight years. It is designed to provide the UK’ s Ministry of Defence( MOD) and other public sector bodies with specialised communication and information systems.
By integrating advanced 5G technology, the UK’ s armed forces can benefit from high-bandwidth, low-latency, and highly resilient connectivity that connects sensors, personnel, and platforms in real-time. This will support advanced applications such
as multi-domain command and control, uncrewed systems and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance( ISR).
The framework also creates a platform for future innovation, enabling the UK to integrate emerging technologies at the pace that modern defence environments demand. This includes capabilities such as 5G sensing for drone detection, AIdriven network automation, and advanced spectrum management techniques.
Nadine Allen, Head of Ericsson UK, says:“ Modern defence requires a new level of connectivity, where data-driven capabilities
“ While growing and buying local produce often makes sense for your health, and helps the economy and environment, it is not a universal rule. International trade in food can be a good thing, providing economic stability for communities whilst using natural energy resources for production, and we need to invest in research to keep threats at bay.”
The creation of the British-grown chocolate bar showed the complex process required to turn the raw crop into a finished product. 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 the beans, before they are spread out and dried in the sun, and then roasted. Using industrystandard equipment and supported by food science experts in the University of Reading’ s Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Maha crushed and ground the beans to a consistent cocoa powder. She then 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.
It is thought the Reading 100 chocolate joins a handful of bars made from Britishgrown cocoa. Rowntree’ s first bar of UKgrown chocolate was made in 1932 with cocoa from a glasshouse-grown cocoa plant, at the Rowntree headquarters in York, with more recent chocolate produced from cocoa at the Eden Project in Cornwall by local Cornish craft chocolate maker Chocolarder. The Eden Project’ s cocoa plants were also sourced via Reading.
The University of Reading is marking its 100th anniversary throughout 2026, celebrating a century of world-leading research, from food and farming to climate science.
are essential for operational success. We are proud to bring our global leadership in 5G and mission-critical networks to support the UK’ s defence modernisation. This framework allows us to work directly with the MOD to deliver secure, resilient, and future-proof communications that will serve as the foundation for the UK’ s digital defence capabilities for years to come.”
Built on global 3GPP standards, Ericsson’ s solutions ensure seamless interoperability with allied forces at scale, a critical requirement for multi-national defence collaboration.
48 Autumn 2026