Cocoa pulp juice (sweatings) as a potential raw material for the development of soft drink

Abstract

Cocoa sweatings is a very interesting by-product of cocoa production and it forms the substrate for microbial growth during the fermentation process. Most of the sweatings go to waste during the processing of the cocoa beans and this has led to its utilization as a potential raw material for the development of soft drink to enhance the importance of cocoa as a source of income for farmers. A natural, shelf stable, ready-to-serve fruit drink was prepared using cocoa sweatings, sugar and water. 1000 ppm sulphite was added to the juice, pasteurized at 90EC, then transferred to presterilized bottles, corked and pasteurized again for 30 minutes and assessed organoleptically for flavour, colour and overall acceptability. Titratable acidity, pH and turbidity were measured on each experimental product. Regression analysis was used to fit a linear relation to the data of all dependent sensory and physico-chemical variables evaluated. Correlation was also used to find the effect of sensory and physical variables on acceptability. Increasing sweating proportion increased all the sensory and physico-chemical variables. Sweetness was high at 0.10 level of sugar and reduced as the amount of sugar added decreased. Sweetness highly correlated with acceptability ( r = 0.99). The quality was still good after 3 months with no microbial growth. Sodium metabisulphite added to the processed juice drinks enhanced the thermal inactivation of microorganisms.


(Journal of the Ghana Science Association: 2001 3(3): 57-61)