ABSTRACT

Cocoa beans from the cocoa tree, Theobroma cacao, are the raw material for chocolate production. Although there are many steps in the manufacturing of chocolate, fermentation of the cocoa beans is a key process for the formation of the characteristic chocolate flavor. Unfermented cocoa beans lack full chocolate flavor and are highly bitter and astringent. Fermentation is the first step in the chocolatemaking chain and consists of a 5-to 7-day process during which microorganisms grow within the pulp material that surrounds the seeds (beans) of the cocoa fruit. is microbial activity generates metabolites and conditions that kill the beans, thereby triggering an array of biochemical reactions and chemical changes within the bean, itself, that are essential for the development of the complex (and much-loved) flavor of “chocolate” (Lehrian and Patterson 1983; Lopez and Dimick 1995).