An ESADE research team has developed an artificial intelligence system capable of identifying the fruits that combine best (and worst) with black chocolate. The system takes chocolatier and pastry chef Oriol Balaguer's opinions about a small group of fruits and applies them to a set of 100 fruits with known qualitative and quantitative flavour characteristics. This process makes it possible to replicate the expert's intuition and experience and recommend other undiscovered combinations.
The system found that the fruits that combined best with chocolate, according to Mr. Balaguer's standards, were cranberry, gooseberry and acerola.
A tool for creation and innovation
The study looked at how an intelligent machine could be trained to learn from experts and draw useful conclusions. Núria Agell, director of the study and Professor at ESADE, explained: "The aim of our study is not to replace people. On the contrary: the system is based on the experience and judgement of professionals. This is a tool that can assist in innovation and creation by using the preferences of an expert. The machine learns from the information it is given and can then recommend previously undiscovered combinations, thereby aiding in the innovation process. Just like a baker can create in his kitchen by trial and error, this artificial intelligence system can create flexibly and open new windows to inspiration. The important thing, for us, is to have defined a process that can be useful for extrapolating combinations based on sensory products. We believe that processes of this type can be applied to many other cases in which the sensory knowledge of experts – such as colourists, sommeliers and perfumists – can be used."
Mr. Balaguer observed: "This experiment dealt with a highly subjective value: taste. Precisely because of this, it can be extremely useful, because we've created an enriching system that uses your intuition, experience and personal judgment to open the door to many combinations and parameters that it would take you a long time to experiment with in the kitchen. In short, it helps move your creative process forward."
Oriol Balaguer's new creation
Once the learning process was finished, the intelligent system made its recommendations – and tried to surprise Mr. Balaguer himself. Of the various top-rated recommendations – which have received little attention from master chocolatiers – Mr. Balaguer has used one, cranberry and black chocolate, to create a new product for his prestigious collection.
The new cake, called SIA, is made with cranberry and chocolate in various textures, with a touch of vanilla. The new artificial intelligence system will be put to use creating new fruit-chocolate combinations, thereby providing flexibility and the certainty of creating successful combinations that appeal to the palates of the culinary world.
The best of 100 fruits
Some of the fruits used in the study were labelled as being, in Balaguer's opinion, "good combinations" with chocolate: orange, mandarin orange, mango, raspberry, cherry and plum. Others were deemed "unsuitable" for combination with chocolate: apple, pear, grape, custard apple, papaya and watermelon. Fruits in a third group were labelled "unknown combinations". From the fruits in the latter group, the software selected certain fruits as future "ideal" combinations; these included cranberry, gooseberry and acerola.
The study covered a wide range of fruits. In addition to the fruits most commonly combined with chocolate (raspberry, mandarin orange, banana, pineapple and orange), it also included many others: apple, pear, strawberry, quince, apricot, sour cherry, wild cherry, peach, mirabelle plum, plum, greengage plum, boysenberry, blackberry, red currant, black currant, white currant, gooseberry, bilberry, blueberry, European blueberry, cranberry, grape, rowan berry, rose hips, elderberry, European cornel, sea-buckthorn berry, sloe, hawthorn berries, acerola, ackee, avocado, tamarillo (tree tomato), breadfruit, natal plum, cashew, chayote, cherimoya, date, durian, fig, pomegranate, grapefruit, guava, jabuticaba, jackfruit, loquat, jujube, persimmon, goldenberry, starfruit, kiwi, kumquat, lime, longan, mammee, mango, mangosteen, naranjilla, okra or okra, olive, prickly pear, papaya, passion fruit, rambutan, rose apple, sapodilla, sapote, tamarind, matai, watermelon, citron, melon and lychee.
The research was conducted by ESADE's Knowledge Engineering Research Group, led by faculty members Núria Agell and Mònica Casabayó in collaboration with pastry chef and chocolatier Oriol Balaguer and his team. The study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and presented at ESADECREAPOLIS.
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