Silva Niara Maria de Jesus, Lima Consuelo Lúcia Sousa de, Meireles Dos Santos Renato, Rogez Hervé, Souza Jesus Nazareno Silva de
Federal University of Pará, Postgraduate Program in Food Science and Technology (PPGCTA), Belém, Pará, Brazil.
Federal University of Pará, Faculty of Food Engineering, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
Heliyon. 2024 Oct 11;10(21):e39295. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39295. eCollection 2024 Nov 15.
The cocoa tree ( L.) is a native crop of the tropical forests of Central America and the Amazon. It plays an important role in the economy of producing regions; however, the infrastructure remains incipient, leading to inadequate processing practices and affecting the quality of the cocoa beans. Therefore, this research aimed to evaluate the quality of 55 samples of Amazonian cocoa beans produced in five regions of state of Pará (Lower Tocantins River, Northeast, West, Southeast, and Trans-Amazon) through physical and physicochemical evaluations (proteins, lipids, moisture, ash, pH, acidity, and water activity), and a questionnaire with producers about fermentation and drying practices. This was followed by physical, physicochemical, antioxidant capacity, quantification of total polyphenols, and bioactive compound evaluations. According to the physical evaluation, the samples met the acceptable commercial standard, but the cut test results showed a lack of standardization in the pre-processing of cocoa beans according to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO). Among the physicochemical parameters, moisture was within the limit tolerated by legislation, and only lipids showed significant differences. Regarding antioxidant capacity, total polyphenols, and bioactive compounds, only the bioactive compounds showed significant differences, with the Lower Tocantins River region exhibiting higher values for all studied compounds. Inadequate processing practices, such as poor fermentation and drying, may lead to quality deficiencies in cocoa beans. Therefore, this study emphasizes the need for characterization of commercial cocoa beans, as well as standardization in the pre-processing of these beans. It also highlights potential variations in the quality of the beans among producing regions, owing to the vast territorial expanse of Pará, diverse cultivation conditions, variety of cocoa trees, and different methods of cocoa bean pre-processing.
可可树（Theobroma cacao L.）是中美洲和亚马逊热带森林的本土作物。它在产区经济中发挥着重要作用；然而，基础设施仍处于起步阶段，导致加工方式不完善，影响了可可豆的品质。因此，本研究旨在通过物理和理化评估（蛋白质、脂质、水分、灰分、pH值、酸度和水分活度）以及向生产者发放关于发酵和干燥方式的问卷，对帕拉州五个地区（托坎廷斯河下游、东北部、西部、东南部和跨亚马逊地区）生产的55个亚马逊可可豆样本的品质进行评估。随后进行了物理、理化、抗氧化能力、总多酚定量以及生物活性化合物评估。根据物理评估，样本符合可接受的商业标准，但切口试验结果表明，根据国际可可组织（ICCO）的标准，可可豆预处理缺乏标准化。在理化参数中，水分在法规允许的范围内，只有脂质存在显著差异。关于抗氧化能力、总多酚和生物活性化合物，只有生物活性化合物存在显著差异，托坎廷斯河下游地区所有研究化合物的值均较高。发酵和干燥不佳等加工方式不完善可能导致可可豆品质缺陷。因此，本研究强调了对商业可可豆进行表征以及对这些豆子预处理进行标准化的必要性。它还强调了由于帕拉州地域广阔、种植条件多样、可可树品种繁多以及可可豆预处理方法不同，各产区可可豆品质可能存在潜在差异。
