Abstract

VERA CHANG, Jaime; RADICE, Matteo; VASQUEZ CORTEZ, Luis  and  INTRIAGO FLOR, Frank. Chemical Profile of 12 National Type Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.). Universidad y Sociedad [online]. 2024, vol.16, n.1, pp. 126-136.  Epub Feb 28, 2024. ISSN 2218-3620.

An investigation was conducted in Quevedo, Los Ríos Province, to characterize the cocoa paste of twelve treatments of National Type cocoa. The objective was to assess its suitability for the industry and preserve its identity linked to the "sabor arriba" flavor. The chemical evaluation took place in the Bromatology laboratories of UTEQ and Santa Catalina INIAP. A Completely Randomized Experimental Design was used with twelve treatments and four replications, totaling 48 samples. The Tukey test (P≤0.05) was employed to identify differences in treatment means; no statistical differences were found in temperature or pH of the cocoa mass. However, for the fat content variable, statistical differences among treatments were observed. Treatments CCN-51 (41.91) and EET-103 (39.13) showed higher fat percentages, while T10 L46H75 (23.73) displayed the lowest percentage. Regarding total polyphenols (mg/g), treatments L40H49 (86.00), L15H31 (85.25), and L17H30 (81.42) recorded the highest values. In the theobromine/caffeine variable, treatment L12H27 obtained the lowest value (3.49%), possibly due to a high caffeine content and low protein content.

Keywords : Quality; Caffeine; Fermentation; Cocoa Paste; Theobromine.

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