Melody is chocolatey. But how much chocolate does it have?

"Melody itni chocolaty kyun hai?" For over four decades, the famous Parle candy built its identity around it being "chocolaty". On Tuesday, the candy found itself at the centre of global diplomacy. PM Narendra Modi gifted a packet of Melody to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The Melody moment was their acknowledgement of the Indian internet's 'Melodi' coinage.

While the gift reignited the internet's favourite "#Melodi" meme, it also gave the brand a publicity boost that most companies would pay crores for. The endorsement came not from Shah Rukh Khan or Cristiano Ronaldo, who charge crores to promote, but from two world leaders. The "Melody moment" put the Parle candy before millions of people worldwide at no advertising cost.

While the brand's advertisements say, "Melody khao, khud jaan jao", one question deserves an answer. Just how much chocolate is actually there inside a Melody candy?

The answer, going by the product's ingredient declaration, is more modest than the slogan suggests. Cocoa solids account for 10.8% of the candy, while sugar, glucose syrup and caramel ingredients make up most of the rest.

That does not mean Melody is not chocolatey. It simply means that the familiar chocolate taste and texture comes from a relatively small proportion of cocoa, which is blended with other ingredients like sugar, milk solids and some flavouring.

FYI, if Melody doesn't feel chocolatey enough for you, there's always the Melody "Max Chocolaty" variant. The Max variant comes at Rs 2 a piece, double the price of the commonly available Melody candy.

WHAT DOES PARLE SAY ABOUT MELODY?

Parle's official product description on its website doesn't list out the list of ingredients used in making Melody. But the website leans into the mystery and intrigue.

"Parle Melody brings to you an irresistible layer of caramel on the outside and a delightful chocolate filling inside. Open and pop it in your mouth and relish the unique experience. It won't be too long before you start asking yourself the age-old question 'Melody itni chocolaty kyun hai?'," says the official Parle website.

Going by the description, the Melody has an outer caramel shell and an inner chocolate centre. The candy is therefore not a chocolate confection in the conventional sense, but is primarily a caramel candy that contains chocolate filling.

HOW MUCH CHOCOLATE DOES MELODY CONTAIN?

The closest answer comes from the ingredient declaration on one of the product descriptions on India Mart, a Noida-based B2B online marketplace company.

According to product specifications listed by the seller, Melody contains cocoa solids at 10.8% of the total product weight. Cocoa solids are the non-fat component of cocoa beans and form the core ingredient responsible for chocolate flavour and colour.

In practical terms, this means that roughly 10.8 grams out of every 100 grams of Melody consist of cocoa solids.

The ingredient list includes sugar, liquid glucose, cocoa solids (10.8%), edible vegetable oil (palm oil), milk solids, iodised salt and soy lecithin, along with added vanilla flavouring.

So while the candy does contain real cocoa, chocolate is far from its biggest ingredient.

So, Melody's chocolate flavour becomes more pronounced when cocoa solids are combined with milk solids, fats and flavouring agents such as vanilla. Melody's chocolate centre is concentrated inside the caramel shell, which makes the cocoa taste more noticeable when the candy is bitten into fully.

WHAT DOES MELODY'S NUTRITION LABEL REVEAL?

The nutrition profile of Melody shows that it is predominantly a sugar-based confectionery product.

Per 100 grams, it contains 434 kilocalories, 77.1 grams of carbohydrates and 53.3 grams of sugars. Fat content stands at 12.8 grams, while protein is 2.6 grams, revealed the listing on India Mart.

The numbers show that most of Melody candy is sugar and carbohydrates rather than cocoa.

So, the next time someone asks, "Melody itni chocolaty kyun hai?", the answer is 10.8% cocoa solids, plenty of sugar, caramel and a marketing masterstroke. Or, as Parle would prefer to put it, "Melody khao, khud jaan jao."