How the taste of the finished chocolate is expressed has also been compared when yeast is added during fermentation. In this test, 100 kg batches of Brazilian PS1319 were fermented in wooden boxes for 168 hours, either spontaneously or with 3 types of yeast added, and made into 70% chocolate. In a Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) test in which a trained panel followed about 2.5 g for 35 seconds, bitterness and cacao were the dominant attributes in both, and in the yeast-inoculated batches, bitterness emerged as the main dominant attribute. Dominance in TDS is not bitterness intensity itself.
Lengthening fermentation does not necessarily move bitterness in the same direction. At 3 facilities in Colombia, beans were taken from 3 fermentation boxes each on day 4 and day 7, and a trained panel of 5 evaluated the dried, roasted, and ground cacao paste on a 0-10 scale. Bitterness and astringency increased toward day 7 at ASA and COC, but decreased at CMI. Because the clonal composition of the raw material, bean quantity, turning, and drying conditions also differed by facility, the effect of fermentation days alone cannot be separated out from this result.
Nádia Nara Batista; Cíntia Lacerda Ramos; Disney Ribeiro Dias; Ana Carla Marques Pinheiro; Rosane Freitas Schwan / 2015 / journal article / full text checked
Checked for this overview: Used for PS1319, 100 kg, 168 hours in wooden boxes, spontaneous fermentation and 3-yeast inoculation, 70% chocolate, about 2.5 g over 35 seconds of TDS, and the distinction between dominance and intensity.
Andrés Felipe Ramírez González; Gustavo Adolfo Gutiérrez García; Paola Andrea Polanía-Hincapié; Luis Javier López; Juan Carlos Suárez / 2024 / journal article / full text checked
Checked for this overview: Used for 3 facilities, 3 fermentation boxes each, day 4 and day 7, 5 panelists on a 0-10 scale, the opposite bitterness/astringency direction by facility, and the raw-material/process limitation.
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Sensory (2)
cocoa fermentation shows the sensory response In TDS of 70% chocolate made from the spontaneous-fermentation batch and the 3-yeast-starter-inoculated batch, bitterness and cacao were the dominant attributes in both, and in the inoculated batch, bitterness emerged as the main dominant attribute during the 35-second observationsupported
Scope: Brazilian PS1319, 100 kg wooden boxes, 168 hours of fermentation, 3 replicates per batch, about 2.5 g of 70% chocolate, 35-second TDS by a trained panel
Note: TDS is the dominance rate of the attribute that draws attention at each time point, not a score of bitterness intensity. The number of panelists is not stated in the text.
For 70% chocolate made from both spontaneous fermentation and mixed-yeast-inoculated fermentation, TDS showed bitterness and cacao as the dominant attributes. In the inoculated batch, bitterness became the main dominant attribute over the 35-second observation, while in the spontaneous-fermentation batch, cacao and bitterness were both prominent.
Limitations: The dominance rate in TDS is not intensity. The number of sensory panelists is not stated in the text. These are 2 conditions in which the presence or absence of a starter and the microbial and volatile composition differ simultaneously, and this cannot be generalized to other cultivars or formulations.
cocoa fermentation — perceived bitterness is affected by: Comparing day 4 and day 7 at the 3 Colombian facilities, bitterness and astringency in the cacao paste increased at ASA and COC, and decreased at CMIsupported
Scope: 3 fermentation boxes per facility, sampled on day 4 and day 7, dried, roasted, and ground paste, a trained panel of 5, a 0-10 intensity scale
Note: Because the clonal composition of the beans, fermentation quantity, turning, and drying conditions differ by facility, this is not treated as a consistent-direction effect of fermentation days alone.
From day 4 to day 7, the intensity of bitterness and astringency increased at ASA and COC, and decreased at CMI. The per-facility radar charts in Fig. 3 also show this opposite direction.
Limitations: This is a comparison between day 4 and day 7, but the raw material and process differ between facilities. The text records the direction of bitterness and astringency, and because the exact scores are not shown in a table, values are not estimated from the figure. This cannot be treated as a universal increase or decrease from fermentation days alone.
cocoa fermentation can change Theobromine and caffeine concentrations decreased through day 5 and increased by day 6, while catechin rose through day 5 and decreased by day 6preliminary
Note: A non-monotonic trajectory. Only 3 genotypes were tested, and temperature-controlled fermentation is a different thing from natural fermentation.
The source describes an overall tendency over 6 days of temperature-controlled fermentation: catechins rose until day 5 and then fell, while theobromine and caffeine fell until day 5 and then rose. The pattern differed by genotype and temperature, however; in CCN 51 under T1 and T3, caffeine decreased throughout. Table 4 does not show day-by-day mean trajectories.
Limitations: Only 3 genotypes and 3 controlled temperature profiles; the authors state that controlled fermentation does not fully reproduce spontaneous fermentation (§5).