TY - JOUR
T1 - Roasting and Cacao Origin Affect the Formation of Volatile Organic Sulfur Compounds in 100% Chocolate
AU - Wiedemer, Aaron M.
AU - McClure, Alan P.
AU - Leitner, Erich
AU - Hopfer, Helene
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: APM is the owner and founder of Patric Food & Beverage Development and Patric Chocolate. APM received financial support from the Professional Manufacturing Confectioners Association (PMCA). Samples of cacao were received as donations from two chocolate companies. In the last five years, HH has consulted for for-profit food/consumer product corporations on projects wholly unrelated to this study and is also the Associate Director of the Sensory Evaluation Center at Penn State, which routinely conducts product tests for industrial clients to facilitate experiential learning for students. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. AMW and EL declare no conflicts of interest.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Austrian Marshal Plan Foundation, the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, and the Penn State Schreyer Honors College, awarded to AMW, and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Federal Appropriations (projects PEN04624, accession number 1013412, and PEN004792, accession number 7002577), awarded to HH. The production of the samples was made possible through a research grant (no. 00062604) from the Professional Manufacturing Confectioners Association (PMCA) awarded to APM. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funder.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/4
Y1 - 2023/4
N2 - Chocolate is a highly appreciated food that develops its characteristic flavors in large part during the roasting of cacao beans. Many functional classes have been noted for their importance to chocolate flavor, including volatile organic sulfur compounds (VSCs). Despite this, the effect of roasting on the concentration of VSCs has never been thoroughly assessed. Here, we studied the effects of roasting temperature, time, and cacao origin on the formation of VSCs. Twenty-seven 100% chocolate samples made from cacao from three different origins and roasted according to an I-optimal experimental design were analyzed by comprehensive gas chromatography with sulfur-selective detection (GCxGC-SCD). For two compounds, dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide, the effects of roasting time, roasting temperature, and cacao origin were modelled using response surface methodology and semi-quantified relative concentration. Overall, roasting increased the number of sulfur-containing volatiles present in chocolate, with a total of 28 detected, far more than previously thought. Increased roasting time and especially roasting temperature were found to significantly increase the concentration of VSCs (p < 0.05), while cacao origin effects were only seen for dimethyl disulfide (p < 0.05). The identity of most VSCs remains tentative, and more research is needed to unravel the impact of these volatiles on flavor perception in chocolate.
AB - Chocolate is a highly appreciated food that develops its characteristic flavors in large part during the roasting of cacao beans. Many functional classes have been noted for their importance to chocolate flavor, including volatile organic sulfur compounds (VSCs). Despite this, the effect of roasting on the concentration of VSCs has never been thoroughly assessed. Here, we studied the effects of roasting temperature, time, and cacao origin on the formation of VSCs. Twenty-seven 100% chocolate samples made from cacao from three different origins and roasted according to an I-optimal experimental design were analyzed by comprehensive gas chromatography with sulfur-selective detection (GCxGC-SCD). For two compounds, dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide, the effects of roasting time, roasting temperature, and cacao origin were modelled using response surface methodology and semi-quantified relative concentration. Overall, roasting increased the number of sulfur-containing volatiles present in chocolate, with a total of 28 detected, far more than previously thought. Increased roasting time and especially roasting temperature were found to significantly increase the concentration of VSCs (p < 0.05), while cacao origin effects were only seen for dimethyl disulfide (p < 0.05). The identity of most VSCs remains tentative, and more research is needed to unravel the impact of these volatiles on flavor perception in chocolate.
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U2 - 10.3390/molecules28073038
DO - 10.3390/molecules28073038
M3 - Article
C2 - 37049800
AN - SCOPUS:85152780780
SN - 1420-3049
VL - 28
JO - Molecules
JF - Molecules
IS - 7
M1 - 3038
ER -