Multi-Omics: More flavor for cocoa and chocolate.
Complex fermentation and roasting processes of harvested cocoa beans determine the quality of chocolate. Standardization and a better understanding of cocoa processing are therefore of great interest to the chocolate manufacturing industry. This need has given rise to numerous omics studies around the world, which have aimed to analyze and classify the most important and also flavor-giving ingredients. Together with partners from Colombia, Miguel Fernandez-Nino from IPB has published a review article in which the omics data on cocoa processing collected so far are systematically analyzed and evaluated using data mining techniques.
In particular, the scientists could shed some more light on the still nebulous fermentation process of cocoa beans. Unlike other fermented foods such as beer and wine, there are no commercial starter cultures for cocoa fermentation and it rather takes place spontaneously with the random microorganisms present in the environment. Metagenomics analyses have revealed that yeast of the genera Candida and Pichia as well as bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Acetobacter and Bacillus play a role in the fermentation and processing of chocolate production lines.
In addition, there were significant differences in the identified ingredients of cocoa and chocolate of different geographical origins. Of particular interest for the formation of special flavors proved to be peptides, which are present in greater diversity in the fine cocoa varieties than in the normal cocoa varieties. Overall, the scientists' review provides the most comprehensive collection of multi-omics data on cacao processing to date. Further research, particularly on starter cultures for fermentation, but also on flavor development and the role of peptides in generating particular flavors, is needed the scientists conclude.
Chocolate is derived from different varieties of Theobroma cacao L., a plant domesticated in the Amazon rainforest more than 4,000 years ago. To produce the brown delicacy, the harvested beans are placed in vats, where they undergo a spontaneous fermentation process that is stopped after approximately ten days. The beans are then dried, roasted and broken to separate the hulls from the kernel. Fragments of the kernel are then finely ground into cocoa paste and processed into chocolate. The global chocolate market is steadily increasing worldwide and is expected to reach $200 billion by 2028.
