Department of Agricultural, Forestry, and Food Science, University of Turin, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, Torino, Italy.
Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santigo de Compostela, Spain.
Nutrients. 2019 Apr 19;11(4):884. doi: 10.3390/nu11040884.
Microbial communities are responsible for the unique functional properties of chocolate. During microbial growth, several antimicrobial and antioxidant metabolites are produced and can influence human wellbeing. In the last decades, the use of starter cultures in cocoa fermentation has been pushed to improve nutritional value, quality, and the overall product safety. However, it must be noted that unpredictable changes in cocoa flavor have been reported between the different strains from the same species used as a starter, causing a loss of desirable notes and flavors. Thus, the importance of an accurate selection of the starter cultures based on the biogenic effect to complement and optimize chocolate quality has become a major interest for the chocolate industry. This paper aimed to review the microbial communities identified from spontaneous cocoa fermentations and focused on the yeast starter strains used in cocoa beans and their sensorial and flavor profile. The potential compounds that could have health-promoting benefits like limonene, benzaldehyde, 2-phenylethanol, 2-methylbutanal, phenylacetaldehyde, and 2-phenylethyl acetate were also evaluated as their presence remained constant after roasting. Further research is needed to highlight the future perspectives of microbial volatile compounds as biomarkers to warrant food quality and safety.
微生物群落是巧克力具有独特功能特性的原因。在微生物生长过程中，会产生几种抗菌和抗氧化代谢物，这些代谢物可能会影响人类健康。在过去的几十年中，人们一直致力于在可可发酵中使用发酵剂来提高营养价值、质量和整体产品安全性。然而，必须注意的是，即使使用的是同一种属的不同菌株作为发酵剂，可可风味也会发生不可预测的变化，从而导致所需风味和香气的丧失。因此，基于生物效应选择合适的发酵剂来补充和优化巧克力质量的重要性，已经成为巧克力行业的主要关注点。本文旨在综述从自然发酵的可可中鉴定出的微生物群落，并重点介绍用于可可豆的酵母发酵剂及其感官和风味特征。还评估了具有促进健康益处的潜在化合物，如柠檬烯、苯甲醛、2-苯乙醇、2-甲基丁醛、苯乙醛和 2-苯乙基乙酸酯，因为它们在烘焙后仍然保持不变。需要进一步的研究来强调微生物挥发物作为保证食品质量和安全的生物标志物的未来前景。
