What Are the Key Halal Certification Points for the Viral Dubai Chocolate?

Dubai chocolate is a sweet and pleasant snack from the Middle East that is currently going viral on social media. The product is widely sought after around the world and has inspired local culinary entrepreneurs to get involved in producing and marketing it. What are its halal critical points according to LPH LPPOM? Do consumers need to look for BPJPH-certified products in accordance with the MUI fatwa standards?

Sweets always attract attention worldwide. Dubai chocolate is one of the sweets that has gone viral recently. It not only has the delicious snack flavor typical of Middle Eastern countries, but the chocolate also has an attractive appearance and a unique way of being eaten. 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 fun names, such as Butter to Be Safe Than Salty, Mind Your Own Buiscoff, Cant Get Knafeh of It, and more, but Cant 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 a soft pistachio filling, topped with chocolate splashes or colorful splash decorations.

The packaging is also very colorful, adding to the curiosity. The way this Dubai chocolate is eaten is also unique. Before the first bite, this thick chocolate is manually broken into two parts, producing a sound and a unique taste experience.

Dubai chocolate initially went viral and could only be found in Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, those who wanted to taste it had to order it through online shopping platforms until it arrived in the destination country. It was not uncommon for some people to have to queue and wait for their orders, because it was not sold in Asia but shipped to Europe and other continents.

Local entrepreneurs in Indonesia knew about this potential, especially as they approached the Christmas and New Year holidays. Dubai chocolate has inspired various local products, such as a mini version of Dubai chocolate made from typical Indonesian plantation chocolate, dessert boxes of melted chocolate on chocolate brownie cakes filled with kunafa pistachios and matcha cream, Dubai chocolate donuts, Dubai chocolate crombolloni, and beverage products such as Dubai chocolate milk tea. The challenge facing Dubai chocolate fans is the high calorie content, especially of the locally made versions, in adjusting the sweetness to a level acceptable to Indonesians. According to the U.S. Dubai chocolate bar page, one 40-gram Dubai chocolate bar contains 210 calories, with carbohydrates as the main component at about 50%. According to the RRI news page, every 100 grams of Dubai chocolate contains 38 grams of fat, 39 grams of sugar, and about 538 calories. By comparison, the calorie content of one Dubai chocolate bar is equivalent to eating two to three portions of Nasi Padang. If the proportion of dark chocolate as a source of antioxidants and pistachios as a source of vitamins and minerals is increased, Dubai chocolate can be a good source of nutrition. Dubai chocolate can be made by yourself and adjusted in various ways according to your needs, such as a gluten-free, slimming version of Dubai chocolate using mocaf flour to make the kunafa dough, a dairy-free vegan version, and even the pistachio filling can be minimized or removed for consumers allergic to nuts.

Raw materials and manufacturing process

According to the Drizzle and Drip page, Dubai chocolate can be made from high-quality couverture chocolate that melts quickly at low temperatures (30-45 degC). This chocolate is made from a mixture of cocoa mass (cocoa bean solids) and cocoa butter, so that once softened the result is glossy and crunchy. Kunafa pistachio, as the chocolate filling, is made from pistachio cream and fried kataifi. The pistachio cream is made by mixing 500 grams of pistachios and two tablespoons of tahini, which helps make the cream smooth until it becomes a thick paste. As an option, 80-100 grams of melted white chocolate can also be added to the dough.

Kataifi is easy to find in the market and looks similar to vermicelli. The kataifi is cut into pieces of about 1 cm, then fried with two tablespoons of butter until golden and crispy. It is then mixed with 60-80 ml of pistachio cream until a thick and textured filling is obtained. Melted chocolate is poured into a silicone mold until it is evenly distributed to every corner. A little filling is left as the bottom chocolate, then stored in the refrigerator until it hardens. Next, fill it with kunafa pistachio and cover the top with a layer of melted chocolate until the mold is complete, then put it back in the refrigerator until it hardens and is ready to eat. Dubai chocolate can be given chocolate splashes or innovative toppings to beautify its appearance.

Halal aspects

Dubai chocolate on the market is not necessarily halal food for Muslims to consume. Chocolate, as the main ingredient, is made from cocoa beans produced by the cocoa plant (Theobroma cacao, L.), which are physically processed using alkali. The key to processed chocolate lies in the other ingredients used, such as emulsifiers, flavorings, and sugar. Chocolate that uses rum flavoring and prohibited animal emulsifiers is not consumable.

Sugar is a sweetener and preservative that seems harmless, since it usually comes from sugarcane juice. Sugar is produced through extraction, purification, evaporation, crystallization, centrifugation, and drying. Sugar purification is a critical point for halal, as activated carbon or ion-exchange resin, often used as a filtering agent, 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, as it may come from animal bones. In addition, if the sugar-making process uses microbial products, it must be ensured that the medium used is halal and not contaminated by impurities.

Kunafa pistachio, typical of Dubai chocolate, is a mixture of pistachios, tahini, and kataifi. Tahini is ground sesame, sometimes mixed with garlic or olive oil. Kataifi is a dough made from wheat flour, corn starch, olive oil, salt, and water, cooked with a delicate dough flow to form fibers like vermicelli.

In making the kunafa during the cooking stage, butter is usually used. Basically, butter is a water-in-oil emulsion product, and to mix well it requires an emulsifier. The frequently used emulsifier is a monoglyceride or diglyceride compound hydrolyzed from fatty compounds. If it comes from animal fat, it can come from lard or from the fat of halal animals that were not slaughtered according to Islamic law and 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, attention must be paid to the use of fat hydrolyzing agents to turn it into glyceride compounds, which can come from prohibited animal enzymes, such as porcine pancreatic lipase produced from the pig pancreas. Wheat flour uses wheat as a raw material, and its halal status is clear. However, fortification is carried out in 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. These vitamin fortifiers can be produced through a bioconversion process or chemical synthesis. The bioconversion process uses microorganisms propagated in a growth medium that requires carbon and nitrogen sources. The growth medium can come from prohibited animals or from halal animals not slaughtered according to Islamic law.

Other fortifiers, such as the amino acid L-cysteine, are also commonly used as wheat gluten softeners. L-cysteine can come from human hair extraction, animal fur extraction, and microbial products. L-cysteine from human hair is clearly prohibited. This is based on MUI Fatwa No. 2/MUNAS VI/MUI/2000 regarding the use of prohibited body parts. L-cysteine from animal fur requires further study. Sheep's wool can be taken while they are alive, but if the feathers of poultry are taken, they suffer, so they must be slaughtered first, and this slaughter must comply with Islamic law.

Corn starch 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 a complex investigation is required, including microbial cultures, medium materials, purification materials, auxiliary materials, and more.

Other materials, such as pigments, flavorings, preservatives, stabilizers, and toppings, can be used in Dubai chocolate innovations. With this explanation, Dubai chocolate lovers must have enough patience to enjoy the Dubai chocolate sold in various shopping centers in Indonesia and abroad.

Nowadays, several bakeries or restaurants in Indonesia have obtained halal certification and sell Dubai chocolate products. If you want to try making your own Dubai chocolate, check the halal label on the ingredient packaging to ensure that the ingredients used are halal.