Developed by a postgraduate student at the university's school of biomedicine, the chocolate's main ginseng ingredient is obtained in a special way so as to maximally preserve the root plant's biologically active substances.
Maya Razgonova, the healthy sweet's creator, used the technology of 'supercritical extraction' with the help of highly pressurzed CO2 gas. The result was the extraction of ginseng's healthy properties at the nanoscopic level. Razgonova received help with this part of the process from the University's school of engineering and senior research fellow Alexander Zakharchenko.
"CO2 extracts are complex aggregates of bioactive substances extracted from plant raw materials with the help of carbon dioxide compressed to a supercritical state," Razgonova explained. "Supercritical CO2-extraction allows us to receive a concentrate with a ratio of biologically active substances practically identical to that of [ginseng in plant form]," she added.
The end result is chocolate with excellent adaptogenic* and strength-restoring properties, and tasty to boot.
The ginseng used is a wild form of the plant found in the Lazovsky region of Primorsky Krai in Russia's Far East. The chocolate also includes pine nuts and an edible gold leaf. A single tile of the chocolate contains a daily dose of ginsenosides and other nutrients with immune-stimulant, antioxidant and energy-boosting effects.
According to the university, work on the chocolate is being finalized, and the healthy sweet may eventually become one of Primosky Krai's distinctive brands.
*Adaptogens are a group of herbal ingredients used to improve the human adrenal system, which is in charge of the body's hormonal response to stress.
