Abstract
Based on data from several authors and from our own analyses, the composition of free amino acids (fa) in fermented cocoa seeds is compared with the amino acid composition in hydrolysates (ha) unfermented cocoa seeds, legume seed globulins and cocoa seed storage proteins. The ha of several cocoa samples are quite uniform and do not differ significantly from the ha in legume globulins. They contain 33%:30% hydrophobic:acidic amino acids. The fa in fermented cocoa seeds are significantly different (58%:16%). The ha of a fraction enriched in cocoa storage protein (41%:26%) which is the source of free amino acids is one, though insufficient, explanation of this difference. Fermentation-like seed incubations reveal that exudation of amino acids is not responsible but free acidic amino acids are metabolized during fermentation whereas leucine, alanine, phenylalanine and tyrosine are considerably accumulated, presumably due to specific activity of endopeptidases. Cocoa flavour is considered in relation to these findings.
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