Research underway at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences aims to help growers and craft chocolate makers.
“Like craft beer and specialty coffee, craft chocolates are a popular indulgence among consumers who are searching for something different,” said Allison Brown, a food science doctoral candidate in the college’s International Agriculture and Development (INTAD) dual-title degree programme. “The craft chocolate market in the US is estimated to be worth US$100 million with new chocolate makers entering the industry almost every day.”
Through a partnership with the Fundación Hondureña de Investigación Agrícola (FHIA), an agricultural research facility in La Lima, Cortés, Honduras, a country recognized for producing fine flavour cocoa, Penn State food scientists are studying how plant cultivars, climate, soil and processing methods influence flavour and aroma characteristics, and how consumers might respond to those characteristics.
The goal is to help boost farmers’ and chocolate makers’ businesses by enabling them to make informed decisions about what cultivars to grow and what varieties to use in chocolate making.
Craft chocolate is in such high demand that consumers are willing to pay between US$5 and US$10 per bar. In addition, fine flavour cocoa is fetching up to US$10,000 per ton, while bulk cocoa sells for about US$2,200/ton, according to Brown.
“This could be a windfall for some of the 6 million smallholder cacao farmers living at or below the poverty line,” she said.
“What some people don’t think about when indulging in their favourite chocolate bar is how it’s made,” said Helene Hopfer, assistant professor of food science. “After harvesting, the beans are fermented, dried and roasted before being turned into chocolate liquor or cocoa powder, the base ingredients of confectionary products.
“Chocolate is interesting because its flavour is influenced by many factors, including plant genetics, where it is grown and how it is processed,” Hopfer said.
Last year, Brown, Hopfer and Gregory Ziegler, professor of food science, cultivated a relationship with Honduran researchers, who, in turn, sent nine varieties of cocoa to Penn State for comprehensive chemical analysis, after which the samples were processed into chocolate liquors.
With the help of undergraduate student workers and Tiffany Murray, coordinator of the Sensory Evaluation Center in the Department of Food Science, Brown trained a panel to quantify their perception of chocolate liquor sensory characteristics.
After completion of the training, panellists rated the samples on appearance, texture, aroma and flavour attributes. Based on that feedback, the researchers made connections between the chemical compounds present in the chocolate liquor and the flavours perceived by humans.
Moving forward, the researchers plan to study the same nine varieties over several harvests to confirm the results found during the first harvest. This research will help growers and chocolate makers understand the characteristic flavours attributed to the varieties studied.
