EFFECT OF DRYING ON ACIDITY AND VOLATILE FATTY-ACIDS CONTENT OF COCOABEANS

The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effect of drying on t he pH, titratable acidity and volatile fatty acids (VFA), ie acetic, p ropionic, butyric, isobutyric and isovaleric acids content of cocoa be ans, and on the flavour of the resultant chocolate. Freshly harvested cocoa pods from clones of PBC 123 and 128 (1:1 ratio) were stored for 9 days and fermented for 5 days with a single turning at 48 h. Four dr ying treatments, ie oven-drying at 60 degrees C, air-blow drying, shad e-drying and sun-drying were carried out. Samples were taken periodica lly for pH, titratable acidity, and VFA analysis. Physical characteris tics were also recorded. The resultant beans were made into dark choco late for flavour evaluation. The results showed that wet beans held in shady areas for 120 h will not dry quickly enough to inhibit mould an d yeast and other putrefactive activities; rapid oven-drying of these still wet beans did not improve their flavour profile. There were no s ignificant differences (P greater than or equal to 0.05) between sampl es that have undergone sun-drying and air-blow drying in the acidity a nd C-3-C-5 VFA content; both were evaluated favourably by taste panell ists. Oven-dried beans contain a high concentration of VFA and produce d chocolates with a high intensity of off-flavour.