Researchers have found a way to make chocolate more healthier and tastier with greater levels of anti-oxidants.
Health effects of chocolate
Chocolate decreases stroke risk,reduces the likelihood of a heart attack, protects against blood inflammation and reduces the risk of diabetes.All this benefits due to antioxidants called polyphenols, according to the researchers.
How chocolate is made?
The process of making chocolate begins when pods from cocoa trees are split open to remove the cocoa beans. The beans are fermented for a few days and then set out to dry in the sun. The next step is roasting, which brings out the flavor.However, it’s thought that cocoa beans lose some of their polyphenols when they’re roasted, according to the authors of the study.
Pulp preconditioning
“We decided to add a pod-storage step before the beans were even fermented to see whether that would have an effect on the polyphenol content,” said Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa at the University of Ghana.
“This is not traditionally done, and this is what makes our research fundamentally different. It’s also not known how roasting affects polyphenol content,” Afoakwa said.
Afoakwa’s team divided 300 pods into four groups that were either not stored at all or stored for three, seven or 10 days before processing.
This technique is called ‘pulp preconditioning’. After each storage period passed, fermentation and drying were done as usual. He said that the seven-day storage resulted in the highest antioxidant activity after roasting. To assess the effects of roasting, the researchers took samples from each of the storage groups and roasted them at the same temperature for different times. The current process is to roast the beans for 10-20 minutes at 120-130 degrees Celsius. Afoakwa’s team adjusted this to 45 minutes at 116 degrees Celsius and discovered this slower roasting at a lower temperature increased the antioxidant activity compared to beans roasted with conventional method.The researchers are currently receiving funding from the Belgium government
