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...

Introduction: Rapid identification of cocoa bean varieties is vital for the authentication in cocoa trade. This paper examines the use of Near Infrared (NIR) Spectroscopy for nondestructive identification of cocoa bean cultivars. Methods: In this study, five cocoa bean cultivars (IMC85 x IMC47, PA7 x PA150, PA150 x Pound7, Pd10 x Pd15 and T63/967 x T65/238) were scanned in the NIR range of 1000...

Chocolate characters not only originate in flavor precursors present in cocoa beans, but are generated during post-harvest treatments and transformed into desirable odor notes in the manufacturing processes. Complex biochemical modifications of bean constituents are further altered by thermal reactions in roasting and conching and in alkalization. However, the extent to which the inherent bean ...

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...

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...

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous cocoa bean fermentation is characterised by a succession of microbial activities. Cocoa flavour precursors are developed during fermentation and drying of cocoa beans. Polyphenols and alkaloids contribute to astringency and bitterness of cocoa and chocolate. RESULTS: Population dynamics, metabolite target analyses, and chocolate production were performed for seven indepe...

Accepted: 08/03/2014 Abstract Cocoa butter (CB) is the byproduct of cocoa bean processing industry and is obtained from the mature bean from the Theobroma cacao plant. It is an important ingredient in the chocolate and other confectionery industries. It's valued for its unique physicochemical properties which is given by its peculiar fatty acid composition. The major triacylglycerols (TAG) pres...

In this article we present lead concentrations and isotopic compositions from analyses of cocoa beans, their shells, and soils from six Nigerian cocoa farms, and analyses of manufactured cocoa and chocolate products. The average lead concentration of cocoa beans was </= 0.5 ng/g, which is one of the lowest reported values for a natural food. In contrast, lead concentrations of manufactured coco...

The compressive properties of premium quality cocoa beans from Ghana considering the effect of moisture content in the moisture range of 7% to 22 % (w.b) were studied. The results of the study demonstrated that the displacement at maximum load or the deformation and the crushing energy had more positive linear function with moisture content and increased significantly from 0.80 mm to 1.87 mm an...

The fermentation of the Theobroma cacao beans, involving yeasts, lactic acid bacteria, and acetic acid bacteria, has a major influence on the quality of the resulting cocoa. An assessment of the microbial community of cocoa bean heap fermentations in Ghana resulted in 91 yeast isolates. These were grouped by PCR-fingerprinting with the primer M13. Representative isolates were identified using t...