Dubai chocolate, a sweet and enjoyable snack from the Middle East region, is currently viral on social media. The product is widely sought after throughout the world and has inspired local culinary entrepreneurs to participate in producing and marketing it. What is the critical point of halalness according to LPH LPPOM? Do consumers need to look for BPJPH-certified products according to MUI fatwa standards?
Sweet snacks never fail to steal the world’s attention. Dubai chocolate is one of the sweet snacks that has gone viral lately. Not only does it have a delicious snack taste typical of Middle Eastern countries, but this chocolate also has an attractive appearance and a unique way of serving it. According to the CNN news page, this chocolate was first made by Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai at the end of 2023 and became very popular after being promoted by influencers on social media.
Fix Dessert Chocolatier sells a variety of products with interesting names such as Butter to Be Safe Than Salty, Mind Your Own Buiscoff, Can’t Get Knafeh of It, and many others, but Can’t Get Knafeh of It is the most famous. Dubai Chocolate Cannot Get Knafeh is a combination of 72% thick dark chocolate and crunchy kunafa with soft pistachio filling, topped with chocolate splatter or colourful splash decoration.
The packaging is also very colourful, adding to the curiosity. The way to consume this Dubai chocolate is also unique. Before the first bite, this thick chocolate is broken into two parts manually, creating a sound and a distinctive taste sensation.
Initially viral, Dubai chocolate could only be found in Middle Eastern countries. Hence, those who wanted to taste it had to order it through an online shopping platform until it arrived in the destination country. Not infrequently, some had to wait in line for orders because it was not sold in Asia but to Europe and other continents.
Local Indonesian entrepreneurs know this potential, especially as they approach the Christmas and New Year holidays. Dubai chocolate has inspired various local products, such as mini versions of Dubai chocolate from typical Indonesian plantation chocolate, dessert boxes with melted chocolate filled with kunafa pistachio and matcha cream on top of chocolate brownies, Dubai chocolate doughnuts, Dubai chocolate crombolloni, to beverage products such as Dubai chocolate milk tea. The challenge for Dubai chocolate fans is the high calories, especially locally made, to adjust the sweet taste that the Indonesian people can accept. According to the Dubai Chocolate Bar USA page, 1 bar of Dubai chocolate weighing 40 grams has 210 calories with carbohydrates as the main component, around 50%. According to the RRI news page, every 100 grams of Dubai chocolate contains 38 grams of fat, 39 grams of sugar, and around 538 calories. If compared, the calorie content of one bar of Dubai chocolate is equivalent to consuming two to three portions of Nasi Padang. Dubai chocolate can be a good source of nutrition if the portion of dark chocolate as a source of antioxidants and pistachios as a source of vitamins and minerals is increased. Dubai chocolate can be made yourself and varied according to your needs, such as the gluten-free diet version of Dubai chocolate that uses mokaf flour in making kunafa dough, the dairy-free vegan version, and even the pistachio filling can be minimized or removed for consumers who are allergic to nuts.
Raw Materials and Manufacturing Process
According to the Drizzle and Drip page, Dubai chocolate can be made with good quality couverture chocolate melted at a low temperature (30-45 ° C) quickly. This chocolate is made from a mixture of cocoa mass (cocoa bean solids) and cocoa butter (cocoa fat) so that the results are shiny and crunchy when softened. Kunafa pistachio, as a chocolate filling, is made from pistachio cream and fried kataifi. Pistachio cream is made by mixing 500 grams of pistachios and two tablespoons of tahini, which helps smooth the cream until it becomes a thick paste. As an option, the dough can also be added with 80-100 grams of melted white chocolate.
Kataifi is easy to find on the market with an appearance similar to vermicelli, kataifi is cut into pieces of about 1 cm and fried with two tablespoons of butter until golden brown and crispy. Furthermore, it is mixed with 60-80 ml of pistachio cream until a thick and textured filling is obtained. The melted chocolate is poured into a silicone mould until evenly distributed to every corner. Leave a little bit filled as the bottom chocolate, then store in the freezer until hardened. Next, fill it with kunafa pistachio and cover the top with a layer of melted chocolate until the mould is complete, put it back in the freezer until it hardens and is ready to serve. Dubai chocolate can be given chocolate splatter or innovative toppings that beautify the appearance.
Halal Aspect
Dubai chocolate on the market is not necessarily halal for Muslims to consume. Chocolate, as the main ingredient, is made from cocoa beans produced from the cacao plant (Theobroma cacao, L.), which is physically processed using alkali. The critical point of processed chocolate lies in the additional ingredients used, such as emulsifiers, flavours, and sugar. Chocolate that uses rum alcohol flavours and haram animal emulsifiers is not consumable.
Sugar, a sweetener and preservative, seems harmless because it generally comes from sugar cane sap. Sugar is produced through extraction, purification, evaporation, crystallization, centrifugation, and drying. Sugar purification is a critical point of halal, activated carbon or ion exchange resin commonly used as a filtration agent that can come from animal-derived materials.
Activated carbon can come from plants, coal, chemicals, or animal bones. In ion exchange resins, it is necessary to consider whether gelatin is used as a dispersant agent, because it can come from animal bones. In addition, if the sugar-making process uses microbial products, it must be ensured that the media used is halal and not contaminated with impurities.
Kunafa pistachio, typical of Dubai chocolate, is a mixture of pistachios, tahini, and kataifi. Tahini is ground sesame seeds and sometimes mixed with garlic or olive oil. Kataifi is made from a dough of wheat flour, cornstarch, olive oil, salt, and water, which is cooked with a fragile dough flow to form fibres like vermicelli.
The making of kunafa at the cooking stage generally uses butter. Basically, butter is a water-in-oil emulsion product, so that it can mix well, an emulsifier is needed. Emulsifiers often used are mono- or di-glyceride compounds hydrolyzed from fat compounds. If it comes from animal fat, it can come from pork fat or halal animal fat that is not slaughtered according to Sharia that Muslims cannot consume, so it is necessary to ensure that the animal fat used has a clear halal status. If it comes from plants, it is required to pay attention to the use of fat hydrolysis agents to become glyceride compounds, which can come from haram animal enzymes, such as porcine pancreatic lipase produced by the pancreas of pigs. Wheat flour uses wheat as the raw material, the halal status of which is clear. However, fortification is carried out when making this flour to increase its vitamin and mineral content. Commonly used fortifiers are iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and folic acid. This vitamin fortifier can be produced from the biotransformation process or chemical synthesis. The biotransformation process uses microorganisms multiplied in a growth medium that requires carbon and nitrogen sources. The growth medium can come from haram animals or halal animals that are not slaughtered according to sharia.
Other fortifiers, such as the amino acid L-cysteine, are also commonly used as wheat gluten softener. L-cysteine can come from human hair extraction, animal fur extraction, and microbial products. L-cysteine from human hair is clearly haram. This is based on MUI Fatwa No.2/MUNAS VI / MUI/ 2000 concerning the use of forbidden body parts. L-cysteine from animal fur needs to be investigated further. Sheep’s wool can be taken while still alive, but poultry will be in pain if their feathers are taken so they must be slaughtered first, this slaughter must be in accordance with sharia.
Cornstarch can be made through a physical process using water and chemicals or through a spontaneous fermentation process using tapai yeast or lactic acid bacteria. Tapai yeast and lactic acid bacteria are microbial products, so complex investigations are needed, including microbial cultures, media materials, purification materials, auxiliary materials, etc.
Additional materials, such as colourings, flavours, preservatives, stabilizers, and toppings, can be used in Dubai chocolate innovations. With this explanation, Dubai chocolate lovers must be patient enough to enjoy the Dubai chocolate sold in various shopping centres in Indonesia and abroad.
Today, several bakery shops or restaurants in Indonesia have been halal-certified and sell Dubai chocolate-based products. If you want to try making your own Dubai chocolate, ensure the ingredients used are guaranteed halal by looking at the halal label on the packaging of the ingredients.
