Processing from raw beans to chocolate bars highly affects the content of phenolic compounds, leading to structural changes, especially during the roasting process. Hence, the effect of roasting (100°C, 125°C or 150°C for 22-28min) on content of phenolic compounds of cocoa beans of different sorts was evaluated. Furthermore, chocolate bars were produced to evaluate the phenolic content of the final product. Total phenolic content (TPC) increased when roasting at 100°C (light, R1). At higher roasting temperatures (medium (R2) or dark (R3)), TPC either decreased or stayed unchanged. Nine compounds were identified by UHPLC-DAD-MS. Four of these were common flavonoids (catechins and procyanidin) and one a major alkaloid, theobromine. (-)-Epicatechin and procyanidin followed the same pattern as TPC. Finally, two cocoa beans (NCC and NM), one dark roasted (NCC-R3) and one light roasted (NM-R1) were selected for production of chocolates. Results showed that differentiation of roasting between beans with different origin is recommended.
OXI-015: Fate of Flavonoid and Theobromine in Cocoa Processing – Relevance of differentiated Roasting and Cocoa Bean Origin
