ABSTRACT
Raw cocoa beans have an astringent unpleasant taste and have to be taken through the post-harvest treatments of fermentation, drying and roasting to attain the characteristic cocoa taste, color and flavour. The major postharvest treatment of cocoa involves harvesting, gathering of the pods, pod storage as a means of pulp pre-conditioning, opening or pod breaking, fermentation of the beans, drying of fermented beans, sorting, packaging and storage. Fermentation and drying are the principal operations for the curing of cocoa beans (Garcia-Alamilla et al. 2007). The purpose of the treatments is therefore to develop the right flavour precursors and colour in the beans and also preserve them before distribution to manufacturing areas. Chocolate flavour precursors such as organic acids, peptides, sugars and fatty acids are formed during fermentation and are modified through drying and roasting (Faborode, Favier, and Ajayi 1995; Knight 2000; Galvez et al. 2007; Afoakwa et al. 2008).
