Pistachio lovers are doomed as viral Dubai chocolate bar trend is killing world's supply

The TikTok trend has influenced agricultural economies enough that the chocolate bar’s nut filling is being rationed in shops as the price of the raw kernel surges

A TikTok trend has made Dubai chocolate surge in popularity as social media users flock to buy the chocolate bar stuffed with green pistachio filling.

The chocolate bar was first posted at the end of 2023, but now has over 120 million views and countless follow-up videos. Pistachio kernels have shot up in price due to the viral trend, surging from £5.77 to £7.76 a pound, Giles Hacking of nut trader CG Hacking told the Financial Times . The nuts are normally grown in Iran or the US.

Hacking told the outlet: “There wasn’t much in supply, so when Dubai chocolate comes along, and [chocolatiers] are buying up all the kernels they get their hands on . . . that leaves the rest of the world short.”

The US had a poor harvest of the nuts last year, so the product was already becoming scarce. The crop was also sold as whole nuts in their shells, so it created a further shortage of the basic kernels.

But Iranian producers had exported 40% more nuts to the UAE in the six months to March than they had in the previous 12 months.

The choco bar combines milk chocolate, shredded pastry called kataifi, and a pistachio cream filling made by the Emirati chocolatier Fix and only sold in the UAE. The treat was given an amusing punning name Can’t Get Knafeh of It, in reference to a traditional Arab dessert, The Guardian reported.

Charles Jandreau, general manager for Prestat Group, which owns several luxury British chocolate brands, told the FT: “It feels like it came out of nowhere. Suddenly you see it in every corner shop.”

Some shops are purportedly rationing the number of the popular bars sold at one time.

It become so popular on social media that it's only on sale for two hours a day and often sells out within minutes in the UAE, the BBC reported.

Brands like Lindt and Läderach made their own knock-offs of the viral choccy bar, with Morrison’s supermarket launching a pistachio cream Easter egg.

The Daily Star recently reported that Chocolate lovers are being dealt some bitter news ahead of Easter - it could be extinct within five years.

Cocoa farmers on the Ivory Coast - where most of the world’s supply is produced - have warned we are running out. Producers have said years of rocketing prices and low productivity due to climate change has left the industry on its knees.

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