Wild mango alternative for cocoa butter, says Bangladesh researcher Sayma Akhter

The global chocolate crisis caused by growing shortage of cocoa has worried producers, but a Bangladesh researcher claims to have found an alternative.

Cocoa butter is currently the only commercially available natural fat which is rich in saturated and mono-saturated fatty acids. 

But Sayma Akhter, a Bangladesh-origin senior researcher with the Bangor University in Wales (U K), has proved that 'mango butter' could be an alternative.

The 'mango butter', Sayma's research paper co-authored with the university’s Morag Mcdonald and Ray Marriot says it will be available from a variety of wild mango, a “Cinderella species” and one that is “visually appealing but currently overlooked”.

This wild mango variety is widely available in south-east Asia, the paper published in ‘Scientific Reports’ indicates. 

Sayma Akhter

It says the potential of mango butter is as yet unrealised but it will grow as cocoa prices shoot up and production falls across the world.

Sayma is a PhD fellow under the European Commission's FONASO joint doctorate programme.

Her research is being co-supervised by Copenhagen University and the University of Chittagong.

It focuses on conservation of wild under-utilised forest species with special focus on wild mango (mangifera sylvatica) from Bangladesh.