Effect of cacao bean quality grade on cacao quality evaluation by cut test and correlations with free amino acids and polyphenols profiles.

ABSTRACT: Cacao fermentation induces biochemical changes in the beans that lead to different cacao grades such as slaty (unfermented), violet (under fermented) and brown (fully fermented) beans. This grade heterogeneity in a sample set can impact the quality of the end-products. In the present study, amino acids and polyphenol contents of slaty, violet and brown beans were evaluated. Free amino acids were derivatized from o-phthalaldehyde and detected with a fluorescence spectrophotometer coupled with a reverse phase HPLC system. Polyphenols were analysed at 280 nm by HPLC using a Photodiode Array Detector. Amino acids content in the violet beans were significantly higher (11,165 ± 4281 mg kg^-1 fat free dry material, ffdm) than that of the slaty beans (4304.5 ± 1927.6 mg kg^-1<

SUBMITTER: Tchouatcheu GAN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6525676 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature