GB2545388A

GB2545388A - Processing cacao beans

Info

Publication number: GB2545388A
Application number: GB1513810.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Stanford-Francis Colin
Original assignee: Neurogenics Holdings Ltd
Current assignee: NEUROGENICS HOLDINGS LTD
Priority date: 2015-08-04
Filing date: 2015-08-04
Publication date: 2017-06-21
Anticipated expiration: 2035-08-04
Also published as: GB201513810D0; GB2545388B

Abstract

A process for the production of a whole cacao bean nib derivative comprises coarse grinding cacao nibs, dry and at ambient temperature to a size range of less than 200 microns; and fine grinding the dry coarse ground nibs to a size of 30 microns. A homogeneous plastic paste which supports its own weight is produced. Also disclosed is a cacao product containing all the constituents of raw cacao nibs. The process involves a shortened period of fermentation of the cacao beans between five hours and forty eight hours, and a prolonged period of drying to condition the beans so that the shells are removable by air winnowing. The beans are not subjected to heat above 100ºC and are not treated with an alkali. The resulting cacao product has a particularly high epicatechin content.

Description

Processing Cacao Beans to Chocolate

Technical Filed

The present invention concerns processing cacao beans produced by varieties of theobroma cacao.

Prior Art

Conventional cacao bean processing involves a number of steps and is exemplified by the disclosure in US5395635. US5395635 is a prior art publication known to the applicant which discloses a process with the most steps in common with the applicant’s process. This document discloses: a) Harvesting: Theobroma cacao produces pods which ripen to contain seeds known as beans surrounded by mucilage. b) Fermentation: The harvested pods and mucilage are encouraged to ferment. The fermentation process is caused to terminate in a period of 15 hours or no fermentation is allowed to occur.

Other more conventional processes employ prolonged fermentation for up to ten days. c) The fermented mass of beans and mucilage washed to remove the mucilage. d) The washed beans may be boiled in water for 3.5 minutes. e) The washed beans are exposed to air and sunlight to dry over a period of six days. f) Once the beans have dried the shells are removed to expose the remaining “nibs”. g) The nibs are ground in one stage to an undisclosed fineness or consistency having a “bright colour”. h) In the final step, to ground cacao nibs were added: measures of cocoa butter, sugar, whole dried milk and lecithin to form the chocolate end product.

The reader may be further enlightened as to the state of the art by reference to US2010130422, US2011311709A, US2007077318, US2003157207A, US2011064849A, US2009041894, US2002034579 and US2012039930A.

While the references above illustrate the range of variables involved in the complex processing of cocoa to produce chocolate, most chocolate manufacturers are believed to implement a process adopting the following steps: I. Fermentation: Cocoa beans and mucilage are fermented for a period of 7 to 14 days because they believe this improves the flavour of the product. II. Drying: The beans are dried for a period of no more than two weeks. III. Roasting: The dried beans are roasted to facilitate de-shelling. IV. De-shelling is commonly achieved by cracking (or fanning). In the cracking step roasted beans are passed through serrated cones (conical rollers) which crack (fracture) the shells. V. Winnowing: The cracked beans are exposed to an air current which so that the fragmented shells are blown away from the heavier “nibs”. VI. Dutching: This process may be applied. The nibs are washed with an alkali such as a solution of potassium hydroxide, to neutralize their acidity. Dutching causes complications in labelling the final product depending on where it is to be retailed, and the local regulations concerning food labelling. Dutching makes a difference in the health value of cocoa. A 2008 paperl measured the ORAC (antioxidation efficacy), the TP (total polyphenol content) and content of flavanols (procyanidins) in natural cocoa (pH 5.39) and cocoa that was lightly alkalized (pH 6.5-7.2), medium alkalized (pH 7.21-7.60) and heavily alkalized (pH > 7.61). VII. Grinding: Cocoa nibs are ground into “cocoa liquor” also known as unsweetened chocolate or cocoa mass. The grinding process generates heat which causes the granular cocoa nib to melt to a liquid condition as the high amount of fat contained in the nib melts. This is sometimes known as cacao liquor. The temperature and degree of milling varies according to the type of nib used and the product required. This results in an inhomogeneous mixture of the low melting point constituents of the cacao with the ground solid fraction having a relatively high melting point. VIII. Pressing: The cacao liquor is pressed under high pressure to produce two products, namely: cacao butter and cacao solids/cacao mass. The cacao mass comes out of the machine in the form of a cake. The cacao mass can be ground to a powder for use as cocoa flavouring in drinks. The cocoa butter is the basis of conventional chocolate products and some health and beauty products. IX. To produce chocolate the cacao butter is added to a quantity of un-pressed cacao liquor together with quantities of sugar, milk, emulsifying agent.

Cocoa butter equivalents are also added and mixed. The proportions of the different ingredients depend on the type of chocolate being made. X. Conching and refining: Conching involves rolling the chocolate until a smooth paste is formed. Refining improves the texture of the chocolate. Alternatively the chocolate may be stirred to implement an emulsifying process. XI. The chocolate is put into moulds and allowed to set prior to packaging.

The conventional prior art process removes some of the nutrients from the final chocolate product and changes others. Some of these nutrients may have significant nutritional and health benefits. It is an object of the present invention to produce a new product which retains more of the nutrients present in cacao beans in their natural form.

It is another technical object of the present invention to obviate the steps of pressing the cacao liquor, separating the cacao liquor and handling the resulting cacao butter and cacao mass.

Statement of Invention

Accordingly the present invention provides a process for the production of a whole cacao bean nib derivative product comprising the steps of: extracting the cacao beans and mucilage from the pods; fermenting the beans and mucilage for a period of less than two days; drying the fermented beans; separating the shells from the beans to reveal nibs; coarse grinding the nibs, dry and at ambient temperature to a size range of less than 200pm; fine grinding the dry coarse ground nibs to a size of 30pm. melting the fine ground cacao by heating at a low steady temperature.

Preferably the period of fermentation is for more than five hours and less than two days.

The drying step may be implemented immediately subsequent to the fermentation step. The drying step will preferably expose the fermented beans to drying air and sunlight for a period of at least three weeks. Preferably the drying process takes place at a humidity of between 7 and 8%

When the beans have been dried the shells can be removed via winnowing.

Coarse grinding requires the size of the ground nibs to be reduced to less than 200pm. Size in this context means that the ground nibs will pass through a mesh or sieve with a minimum dimension of 200pm. Coarse grinding stage may take the nibs down to 175pm.

The step of fine grinding the dry coarse ground nibs to a size of 30p means that the resulting ground nibs will pass through a mesh of 30pm or less.

The fine ground cocoa product is a potentially saleable item and may be packaged for transportation. However the process implemented on one site may include melting the fine ground cacao by heating at a low steady temperature. In practice this means heating to a constant temperature below the local boiling point of water, ie nominally less than 100°C and preferably a temperature only sufficient to cause the cacao product to melt and flow into a mould. This helps to prevent changes to the active chemical composition of the product and retain the presence and quality of beneficial nutrients and flavanols.

The process may include the further steps of pouring the molten cacao product into a mould.

The molten cacao product may be pressed in the moulded. This helps to improve the appearance of the finished product.

The moulds may be vibrated or stirred to displace air from the product and ensure that the mould is completely filled.

The moulds are chilled to solidify the cacao product.

The solidified product may be tipped from the moulds and packaged for shipment. Brief Description of Figure A process for making a cacao product will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying illustrative figures, in which:

Figure 1 is a flow chart describing the embodiment.

Detailed Description

Referring to the process flow chart of figure 1, at step 1 the ripe cacao pods are harvested. Each cacao pod holds approximately 40 beans. They must all be carefully removed from the pods to ensure that the beans are not injured in the process. The beans are scooped out of the pods and then collected together for fermenting in one or more cocoa fermentation boxes or “sweatboxes.” When the beans are first removed from the pod, they are white, with mucilage like coating around each bean. This mucus coating is also included in the sweat boxes and provides the sugar needed as the basis for a fermentation process that each bean will undergo. Fermentation begins once the cacao beans are exposure to the air. Saccharomyces spores from the naturally occurring yeasts settle on the beans and mucilage and start to breakdown the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The alcohol is further oxidised to acetic acid by mycoderma aceti.

Conventional chocolate makers may remove the acetic acid generated through cocoa fermentation by adding a base such as potassium hydroxide solution later in the process. The present process does not treat the acetic acid by the addition of a base.

At step 3 the fermentation’s process promotes chemical changes both outside and inside the bean. The sweet mucilage-like coating on each bean feeds the fermentation that takes place outside the bean. The fermentation process causes the temperature in the sweat box to rise quickly. During the fermentation period temperatures can climb to 48 °C (122F). The conditions within the sweat box are controlled so that, on the second day of fermentation, the temperature reaches 43°C (113F). The temperature, concentration of alcohol and acetic acid causes the germ within the cacao bean to die. When the germ dies, important chemical changes begin as enzymes within the bean itself are released. The present process limits the fermentation period to between five hours and 48 hours (2 days).

At the end of the fermentation process the fermented beans are laid out on trays to air and sun-dry at step 4. This process requires a prolonged drying period which ends when the colouration of the beans turns from reddish brown to a dark brown.

The period will vary depending on the ambient conditions but will ordinarily be not less than three weeks. The conditions for this drying stage are controlled to an ambient air humidity of between 7 and 8%.

The drying period adopted in more conventional chocolate manufacture is normally two weeks and is followed by a roasting step where the beans are cooked, dry at high temperatures well in excess of 100°C. The roasting step helps to make the bean shells dry and fragile facilitating a subsequent cracking and separation step but also causes changes to the kernel or “nib” of the bean. The present process avoids any roasting step.

At step 5 the dried beans are subject to a winnowing process wherein air is blown across the intact beans. The winnowing step causes the now fragile shell to fragment and separate from the nib.

The winnowed nibs are then ground in a coarse grinding mill at step 6. The coarse ground nibs are reduced to a mesh of 200pm or less or in some cases coarse grinding may take the nibs down to 175pm.

Step 7 delivers the coarse ground cacao to a second fine grinding step which reduces the cacao to 60pm and preferably 30pm or less. It has not been possible to grind the cacao nibs to the fine ground condition in a single stage because attempts to do so in known equipment result in separation of the liquid constituents of the nib which clog the grinding apparatus. The two stage grinding steps take place at substantially ambient temperature, eg 10°C-40°C and preferably 15°C-25°C.

It is at this stage that the cacao begins to change structure. As the fine grinding process proceeds the cacao oils are released and the ground cacao begins to change shape and cacao butter particles synthesise to make long cacao particles that glisten. Unlike the previously described conventional process, the fine ground cacao nibs do not form a separate or separated liquor, they instead form an homogeneous plastic paste which supports its own weight.

Conventional chocolate making processes include a grinding step which results in a separated liquor as described at stage (VII) above. By adopting a two stage grinding process the present process avoids the production of liquor and the subsequent conventional pressing and certain other associated steps, mentioned under the prior art section, are obviated.

At step 8 the raw fine ground cacao product is heated in a Baine Marie or a device of similar functionality, in order to melt the fine ground cacao into a viscous liquid. Basically the Baine Marie serves to prevent the temperature of the fine ground cacao from rising above ~100°C by surrounding the mass of fine ground cacao in a vessel with a jacket of water, or its equivalent at ambient pressure.

At step 9, once melted, the cacao product is poured (spooned) and pressed into moulds with a palette knife. The moulds are vibrated at step 10 to drive out air bubbles, and chilled at step 11 to cause the cocoa product to set. At step 12 the set cacao is separated from the mould and packaged.

Tables 1 and 2 below are the results of analysis of two samples of the cacao product from a single production run using a cirollo bean as the raw material. One of the objects of the process is to produce a product with a particularly high epicatechin content for the source bean. In this case the process achieves a uniquely high proportion of epicatechin from a cirollo bean raw material. Variations in the quality of a specific cirollo bean harvest may result in an epicatechin content varying by ± 20% in extreme cases and more usually by ±5% from the tabulated value content for the source bean. TABLE 1

TABLE 2

The inventor proposes to produce a cacao product by applying the process to trinitario beans as the raw material. Unprocessed trinitario beans are known to have a relatively high proportion of epicatechin. The use of the process on trinatario beans is expected to produce a cacao product with an epicatechin content of between 4000-5000mg/kg, more preferably 4800mg-4800mg because the process does not modify and destroy epicatechin as do conventional cacao production processes.

Table 3 below provides an analysis of the constituents of a sample of the cacao product produced by the process from cirollo beans:

Table 3

Claims

Claims

1. A process for the production of a whole cacao bean nib derivative product comprising the steps of: coarse grinding cacao nibs, dry and at ambient temperature to a size range of less than 200pm; fine grinding the dry coarse ground nibs to a size of 30pm.
2. A process according to claim 1 comprising the step of melting the fine ground cacao by heating at a low steady temperature.
3. A process according to one of claims 1 or 2 comprising the steps of: extracting the cacao beans and mucilage from the pods; and fermenting the beans and mucilage for a period of less than two days.
4. A process according to claim 3 comprising the step of fermenting the beans and mucilage for a period of more than five hours.
5. A process according to claim 4 comprising the step of fermenting the beans for a period of more than twenty four hours.
6. A process according to any one of the preceding claims comprising the step of drying the fermented beans by exposure to air and light until they turn from a reddish brown to a dark brown.
7. A process according to claim 6 comprising the step of drying the fermented beans for a period of three weeks or more.
8. A process according to claim 7 comprising the step of winnowing the dried beans to separating the shells from the nibs.
9. A process according to claim 8 comprising a winnowing process involving blowing a stream of air through a mass of dried beans to fragment the shells and separate the shells from the nibs.
10. A process as claimed in claim 1 and as herein described.
11. A cacao product produce by a process according to claim 1.
12. A cacao product containing all the constituents present in the raw nib.
13. A cacao product according to claim 12 wherein the constituents are not modified by heating above 100°C.
14. A cacao product according to claim 13 wherein the constituents of the nib are not modified by roasting.
15. A cacao product according to one of claims 12 or 14 wherein the constituents have not been separated.
16. A cacao product according to one of claims 12 to 15 which is not treated with an alkali. Amendments to the claims have been made as follows: Claims
1. A process for the production of a whole cacao bean nib derivative product comprising the steps of: extracting the cacao beans and mucilage from the pods; fermenting the beans and mucilage for a period of less than two days; drying the fermented beans for a period of three weeks or more in dry air; immediately after air drying, winnowing the dried unroasted beans by blowing a stream of air through a mass of the dried beans to fragment the shells and separate the shells from the nibs; coarse grinding cacao nibs, dry and at ambient temperature in a range of 10 °C to 40°C to a size range of less than 200pm; fine grinding the dry coarse ground nibs, at ambient temperature, to a size of 60pm or less to form a paste without separation of the liquor.
2. A process according to claim 1 wherein the step of fine grinding grinds the coarse ground nibs to 30pm or less.
3. A process according to claim 1 or claim 2 comprising the step of fermenting the beans and mucilage for a period of more than five hours.
4. A process according to claim 3 comprising the step of fermenting the beans for a period of more than twenty four hours.
5. A cacao product produced by a process according to any one of claims 1-4 and having the following constituents: