Evaluación de los parámetros de calidad mediante la identificación de las características organolépticas del Cacao de Exportación en el Ecuador.

Abstract

The present work will pay us to identify, through the bibliographic review, three varieties of cocoa for export in Ecuador, Cacao Nacional “de Arriba” cultivated in the Guayas and Babahoyo river basins, Cacao Naranjal (CCN51) hybrid and Cacao Forastero cultivated in the Amazon. The first is used for gourmet chocolates, the second characterized by containing a high percentage of butter and the third used to give body to the chocolates. On the other hand, it was possible to show that the organoleptic characteristics of export cocoa are due to a series of processes that begin at harvest, go through a fermentation, drying and roasting process, each stage is considered important, however the flavor characteristics and odor are attributed to the roasting process where pyrazines and linalool are formed. Compound stories have been identified through quantitative analysis by Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry. Likewise, it was possible to show that cocoa presents contamination by heavy metals, mainly by Cadmium, Lead and Arsenic which are identified and quantified by High Resolution Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).