Cacao bean, acid

Rohan had suggested that the operative reaction in the development of chocolate aroma might be a Strecker degradation of the amino acid fraction. Bailey et al. (8) demonstrated quantitatively that three aldehydes, which could be related to leucine, valine, and alanine, were prominent in the volatiles from a typical sample of roasted, ground cacao beans. 

Cacao Cacao beans Yeasts, lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria... 

Kenyhercz TM, Kissinger PT (1978) Determination of selected acidic, neutral, and basic natural-products in cacao beans and processed cocoa. Liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Lloydia 41 130-139... 

Fat pressed from the roasted cacao bean (cocoa bean) is known as cocoa butter. It is yellow and possesses a slight chocolate flavor. It consists primarily of triglycerides (three fatty acids bonded to glycerol) of the fatty acids palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids. This fatty acid composition causes cocoa butter to be solid at room temperature but to melt at near body temperature. Most of the cocoa butter is used in the manufacture of chocolate. 

After the ripe pods are harvested, they are cut open and the beans and adhering pulp are removed for fermentation. It is during the process of fermentation that cacao acquires much of its characteristic flavor and aroma. Fermentation soon occurs due to the high sugar content of the pulp and the presence of microorganisms. The sugars are converted to alcohols and finally to acetic acid, which drains off. The acetic acid and heat formed... 

The cacao plant, Theobroma cacao, is the source of chocolate which is well known and highly prized in international commerce. The cacao pods contain beans which are fermented and pressed to provide a brown liquid which is the raw material for chocolate. The press cake is ground and sold as cocoa and it also provides a brown colorant. The pods, beans, shells, husks and stems have also been suggested as colorants. They contain a very complex mixture of acyl acids, leucoanthocyanins, flavonoid polymers, tannins, and catechin-type polymers.33... 

DKP Formation in Model Peptide Systems. The fact that DKPs are formed at relatively lov temperatures suggested that catalyzed peptide decomposition occurs in the weakly acidic milieu produced by cacao fermentation. Reactions of simple peptides were followed at 0.02 M (initial concentration) in refluxing acetic acid (120°C) to simulate the interior of a bean during roasting (Table II). 

That tocopherols are apparently nature s choice of antioxidant is demonstrated in Fig. 4, which is similar to a correlation observed by Hove and Harris (1951). Here the total tocopherol content of oils from babasu (1), beechnut (2), carrot (3), castor bean (4), cacao (5, 6), coconut (7, 8), corn (9, 10), cottonseed (11-13), hazelnut (I4, 15), linseed (16), oat germ (17), okra seed (18, 19), olive (20-25), palm (26-28), peanut (29-33), pecan (34, 35), poppyseed (36), rapeseed (37), rice bran (38), safflower (39), sesame (40, 4I), soybean (42-44), sunflower (45), and wheat germ (46-50), as reported by Lange (1950), have been plotted against their total linoleic plus linolenic acid content as reported by Hilditch (1956). The linoleic, plus linolenic acid content of oils from the same species varies, sometimes threefold. It is unfortunate that the content of tocopherol, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid have seldom been determined on the same sample. If Fig. 4 could have been prepared from such data, the correlation would probably be even more dramatic. 

In addition to the list of occurrences of tryptamine in Table I mention should be made of the isolation of behenic acid tr ptamide (II) from the pods of the cocoa bean, Theobroma cacao (26). 

Fresh cocoa beans, the seeds of cacao tree (Theobroma cacao, StercuUaceae), have a sour odour and a sour, bitter and astringent taste. The main contributors to the bitter taste are purine alkaloids. The astringent taste of cocoa products is mainly influenced by oligomeric procyanidins, flavan-3-ol-C-glycopyranosides (see Section 8.3.6.2.2) and N-phenylpropenoyl amino acids (see Section 2.2.1.2.1). 

Cacao butter (cocoa butter), from the beans of the cocoa tree Theobroma cacao), is made of glycerides of stearic and oleic acids. It is used in pharmacy and in confectionery. 

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