Abstract
Cocoa bean shells were subjected to green extraction technologies, based on the absence of toxic organic solvents, to recover polyphenols; the extract was then encapsulated using a spray dryer and maltodextrin as coating agent. The best conditions observed in the spray drying tests (core-to-coating ratio 1:5; inlet temperature 150 °C; flow rate 6 ml min−1) were applied to produce the microcapsules used to enrich the same cocoa mass as the shells and processed for the preparation of the chocolate bars. Sensory analysis showed no significant differences between enriched chocolate bar and the unenriched reference one, except for the appearance. Both samples were then subjected to accelerated storage tests, at the end of which the polyphenols in the control chocolate bar (0.85 g 100 g−1) were reduced by about 50% (0.42 g 100 g−1), while in the enriched chocolate (1.17 g 100 g−1) by only 22% (0.97 g 100 g−1). The proposed process significantly enriched the chocolate bars with phenolic antioxidants recovered from cocoa waste without increasing the sensations of bitterness and astringency.
Highlights
Today the recovery and reuse of by-products in the perspective of circular economy is necessary in view of the increasing world population and disposal costs [1, 2]
The green extraction process of phenolic substances from cocoa shells was first investigated and the extracts were encapsulated with maltodextrins by spray drying
Following green extraction to recover polyphenols from cocoa bean shells, the extracts were encapsulated by spray drying with maltodextrin as a coating agent
Summary
Today the recovery and reuse of by-products in the perspective of circular economy is necessary in view of the increasing world population and disposal costs [1, 2]. Cocoa shells make up 12% of the whole bean and are usually considered a waste product of cocoa manufacturing. From the annual production of cocoa beans (4,824,000 tons in 2019/2020), approximately 578,900 tons of food shells are produced (https://www.statista.com/ statistics/262620/global-cocoa-production/). Cocoa shells are a source of antioxidant compounds, such as polyphenols, including epicatechin, catechin and procyanidins [3,4,5,6], Plant Foods Hum Nutr was to increase the antioxidant properties of chocolate, masking the bitter and astringent taste. The green extraction process of phenolic substances from cocoa shells was first investigated and the extracts were encapsulated with maltodextrins by spray drying. Microcapsules with phenolic extracts from cocoa shells were added during the hardening of cocoa liquor for the production of chocolate bars. The enriched chocolate bars were subjected to an accelerated shelf life test and analysed for phenol content, colour and texture
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