More intense roasting of cocoa beans lessens bitterness, boosts
chocolate liking

Date:
February 24, 2022
Source:
Penn State
Summary:
Confection makers who want to develop products containing 100%
chocolate and no sugar for health-conscious consumers can reduce
bitterness and optimize flavor acceptance by roasting cocoa beans
longer and at higher temperatures.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Confection makers who want to develop products containing 100% chocolate
and no sugar for health-conscious consumers can reduce bitterness and
optimize flavor acceptance by roasting cocoa beans longer and at higher temperatures.


========================================================================== That's the conclusion of a team of researchers who conducted a new
study in Penn State's Sensory Evaluation Center in the Department of Food Science. The study involved 27 100%-chocolate preparations made from cocoa beans roasted at various intensities and 145 people who came to the center
on five consecutive days, evaluating five different samples each day.

The research confirmed that bitterness and astringency are negatively correlated to consumer liking, and demonstrated that those qualities
in chocolate can be reduced through optimizing roasting, according
to research team member Helene Hopfer, Rasmussen Career Development
Professor in Food Science in the College of Agricultural Sciences.

"More and more people these days are eating darker chocolates with
less sugar and more cacao because they are trying to cut down on sugar
intake or they want to take advantage of perceived health benefits," she
said. "Dark chocolate is particularly high in flavonoids, particularly
a subtype called flavan-3-ols and their oligomers, which are all
considered functional ingredients due to their associated health effects." However, unsweetened chocolate is too bitter for most people to enjoy, so researchers experimented with roasting treatments to modify the flavor -
- investigating more than basic tastes such as sour and bitter -- making
it more acceptable for consumers, Hopfer explained.

For the study, research team member Alan McClure, founder of craft
chocolate company Patric Chocolate and related consultancy Patric Food & Beverage Development, partnered with Hopfer and Penn State to characterize
the flavor and acceptability of the chocolates.



==========================================================================
Part of his doctoral degree dissertation research, McClure chose cocoa
beans from three origins -- Madagascar, Ghana and Peru, harvested in
2018 and 2019.

He roasted and ground all samples into cocoa liquor at his factory in
Columbia, Missouri, and then shipped the solidified 100% chocolate to
Penn State, where he and Hopfer remelted and portioned out the chocolates
into small discs for sensory evaluation.

McClure found the reaction of study participants to his 27 100% chocolate preparations especially interesting, and he suggested that what he
learned from this research will guide him, and roasting staff at other chocolate manufacturing companies, in creating future products through
an increased scientific understanding of the complex changes resulting
from cocoa roasting.

In findings published in Current Research in Food Science, the researchers reported that more intense roasting conditions -- such as 20 minutes at
340 degrees Fahrenheit, 80 min at 275 F, and 54 min at 304 F -- all led
to chocolate consumers finding unsweetened chocolate the most acceptable.

Conversely, research participants did not find 100% chocolate acceptable
when made from raw or lightly roasted cacao, such as beans roasted 11
minutes at 221 F, or 55 minutes at 147 F.

Hopfer noted that scientists' understanding of the variation of
cacao-related bitterness has historically come from instrumental
investigation of the bitter compounds found in cocoa beans, but the Penn
State research is novel because of its use of human sensory evaluation
to quantify such variation.

"Our research was intended to learn about bitterness perception and the
liking of chocolate made from cacao roasted with a variety of roasting
profiles to see if wide consumer acceptability of 100% chocolate is
possible," she said. "A chocolate maker doesn't have many other options
to influence the flavor quality of 100% chocolate except to vary how he or
she roasts the beans, and our results show optimal roasting can adequately reduce bitterness." Ingolf Gruen, associate professor in the Department
of Food Science, University of Missouri, contributed to the research.

A grant from the Professional Manufacturing Confectioners Association
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture supported this work.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Penn_State. Original written by Jeff Mulhollem. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Alan P. McClure, Helene Hopfer, Ingolf U. Gru"n. Optimizing consumer
acceptability of 100% chocolate through roasting treatments
and effects on bitterness and other important sensory
characteristics. Current Research in Food Science, 2022; 5: 167
DOI: 10.1016/j.crfs.2022.01.005 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220224180351.htm

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