There are five main groups of microorganisms that participate in fermenting cocoa: filamentous fungi, yeasts, lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria, and various Bacillus species [1]. Fungi, yeasts, lactic acid bacteria, and acetic acid bacteria are active mainly in the first stage (from 0 to 48h). Yeasts convert sugar from the mucilage of cocoa beans into alcohol, and break the pectin down...

Several recent reports have been published indicating that the antioxidant activity of olive oil and tea leaves is not stable over product shelf lives of about one year. We have measured the antioxidant activity, total polyphenols, flavan-3-ols monomers, and procyanidin levels in milk and dark chocolate, in cocoa powder, and in cocoa beans. Results show that for the cocoa products studied, anti...

Abstract The primary objective of this study was to establish a current situation assessment of the possible occurrence of deoxynivalenol in cocoa and cocoa products. Since there was no analytic method for determining DON in cocoa and cocoa products, a special method was developed. The applicability and consistency of the method was confirmed by performing recovery assays on various cocoa produ...

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin mainly produced by mould species of the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium, which grow on a variety of agricultural products. OTA-contaminated foodstuffs pose a major health hazard to consumers, including human and animal. In Cote d'Ivoire, numerous studies are being carried out to find the best way of preventing OTA contamination of cocoa raw material. The obj...

Cocoa contains high levels of different flavonoids. In the present study, the enantioseparation of catechin and epicatechin in cocoa and cocoa products by chiral capillary electrophoresis (CCE) was performed. A baseline separation of the catechin and epicatechin enantiomers was achieved by using 0.1 mol x L(-1) borate buffer (pH 8.5) with 12 mmol x L(-1) (2-hydroxypropyl)-gamma-cyclodextrin as ...

Cocoa beans are the basic raw material for the production of chocolate and other chocolate products. To obtain these products, the seeds must be subjected to a complicated technological process in which one of the key steps is roasting. A widely used method of roasting cocoa beans is convection roasting which is based on subjecting the raw beans to a flow of hot air in the temperature range bet...

A survey on five kinds of cocoa beans from new cocoa planting countries was conducted to analyze each kind's basic quality. The average bean weight and butter content of Hainan cocoa beans were the lowest, at less than 1.1 g, and 39.24% to 43.44%, respectively. Cocoa beans from Indonesia where shown to be about 8.0% and 9.0% higher in average bean weight and butter content, respectively, than t...

Several studies have been reported on the potential health benefits of cocoa polyphenols. However, heat treatment on cocoa beans during drying has an inhibitory effect on the retention of its polyphenols. The polyphenol degradation mechanism due to heating is scarcely reported in literatures for cocoa beans. This paper aims to provide substantial evidence to prove that temperature and heating t...

Fresh, ripe cocoa beans from Cameroon (German cocoa/Amelonado group and ICS 40/Trinitario group) were subjected to fermentation-like incubations in acetic acid, lactic acid, or both and to natural fermentation. Two naturally fermented samples from Cuba (UF 654/Trinitario group and C 411/Criollo group) were also investigated. Both cyanidin-3-galactoside and cyanidin-3-arabinoside (found as major...

Cocoa beans fermentation is an important step in the post-harvest processing of cocoa beans. This complex mix culture fermentation produces metabolic products that serve as the precursors for the flavor development process. Modification in the dynamics of microbial population during the fermentation may alter the overall microbial activity and thus may impact the fermentation process. Addition ...