Effect of Drying Technique on the Volatile Content of Ecuadorian Bulk and Fine-Flavor Cocoa
Cyntia Yadira Erazo Solorzano,
Vincenzo Disca,
José Manuel Muñoz-Redondo,
Diego Armando Tuárez García,
Mónica Sánchez-Parra,
Manuel Danilo Carrilo Zenteno,
José Manuel Moreno-Rojas,
Raquel Rodríguez-Solana
Affiliations
Cyntia Yadira Erazo Solorzano
Faculty of Industry and Production Sciences, State Technical University of Quevedo, Av. Walter Andrade, km 1.5 Via Santo Domingo, Quevedo 120301, Ecuador
Vincenzo Disca
Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro”, 28100 Novara, Italy
José Manuel Muñoz-Redondo
Department of Agrifood Industry and Food Quality, Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA), Alameda del Obispo, Avda Menéndez Pidal s/n, 14004 Córdoba, Spain
Diego Armando Tuárez García
Faculty of Industry and Production Sciences, State Technical University of Quevedo, Av. Walter Andrade, km 1.5 Via Santo Domingo, Quevedo 120301, Ecuador
Mónica Sánchez-Parra
Department of Agrifood Industry and Food Quality, Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA), Alameda del Obispo, Avda Menéndez Pidal s/n, 14004 Córdoba, Spain
Manuel Danilo Carrilo Zenteno
Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIAP), Estación Experimental Tropical Pichilingue (EETP), Departamento de Manejo de Suelos y Aguas (DMSA), km 5 Via Quevedo–El Empalme, Cantón Mocache, Quevedo 120313, Ecuador
José Manuel Moreno-Rojas
Department of Agrifood Industry and Food Quality, Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA), Alameda del Obispo, Avda Menéndez Pidal s/n, 14004 Córdoba, Spain
Raquel Rodríguez-Solana
Department of Agrifood Industry and Food Quality, Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA), Alameda del Obispo, Avda Menéndez Pidal s/n, 14004 Córdoba, Spain
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is one of the most widely consumed edible seeds in the world affected by on-farm processing. This study investigated the effect of different drying techniques, namely oven drying (OD), sun drying (SD), and a modification of sun drying using black plastic sheeting (SBPD), on the volatile profile of fine-flavor and bulk cocoa varieties analyzed by HS-SPME-GC-MS. A total of sixty-four volatile compounds were identified in fresh and dried cocoa. As expected, the volatile profile was clearly modified after the drying step, showing strong differences among cocoa varieties, this factor and its interaction with the drying technique having greater influence according to the ANOVA simultaneous component analysis. A principal component analysis revealed a close relationship between the volatile content of bulk cocoa samples dried by the OD and SD techniques, whereas slight volatile modifications were perceived among fine-flavor samples dried using the three different techniques under study. Overall, the results provide the basis for the potential application of the simplest inexpensive SBPD technique in order to accelerate the drying process of sun drying and produce cocoa with similar (fine-flavor cocoa) or improved (bulk cocoa) aromatic quality to that formed using the traditional SD or the small-scale OD.
