Microbial composition and metabolic profiles during machine-controlled intra-factory fermentation of cocoa beans harvested in semitropical area of Japan

Cocoa bean fermentation is typically performed in a spontaneous manner on farms in tropical countries or areas and involves several microbial groups. Metabolism by microbes markedly affects the quality of cocoa beans fermented and the chocolate produced thereof. The present study characterized the m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioscience of Microbiota, Food and Health Food and Health, 2024, Vol.43(1), pp.29-42
Main Authors: NISHIMURA, Hiroya, SHIWA, Yuh, TOMITA, Satoru, ENDO, Akihito
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beans
Cocoa
Cocoa beans
cocoa fermentation
Environmental factors
Fermentation
intra-factory fermentation
Japan
Metabolism
metabolomics
Microbiota
Microorganisms
Starter cultures
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Cocoa bean fermentation is typically performed in a spontaneous manner on farms in tropical countries or areas and involves several microbial groups. Metabolism by microbes markedly affects the quality of cocoa beans fermented and the chocolate produced thereof. The present study characterized the microbiota and their metabolic profiles in temperature- and humidity-controlled intra-factory cocoa fermentation in a semitropical area of Japan. Although environmental factors were uniform, the microbiota of cocoa beans subjected to intra-factory fermentation was not stable between tests, particularly in terms of the cell count levels and species observed. Fermentation was sometimes delayed, and fermenting microbes were present at very low levels after 24 hr of fermentation. Due to the unstable microbiota, the profiles of water-soluble compounds differed between tests, indicating the unstable qualities of the fermented cocoa beans. These results suggest the necessity of starter cultures not only in on-farm fermentation but also in machine-controlled intra-factory cocoa fermentation.
ISSN:2186-3342
2186-3342
DOI:10.12938/bmfh.2023-036