QUALITY ANALYSIS OF

C A C A O BEANS
 Thegolden standard - Ghana cocoa
beans:
– 90-95 beans for 100 g
– 11-13% shell content
– 56-58% fat content
– strong chocolate flavour
– low acidity
– low astringency and bitterness
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Parameters to be assessed
1. Bean count (bean count/100 gr beans)
2. Waste
3. Bean cut test
4. Shell content
5. Moisture (max. 7.5%)
6. Fat content
7. Organoleptic Testing
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1. Bean Count
Definition:
The number of cocoa beans from a known
weight of a quartered sample is counted to
arrive at representative bean count to make a
weight of 100 gr

Procedure:
1. Weigh 100 gr of cocoa beans
2. Count number of beans, disregarding waste and
shell
3. This procedure replicate 3 times
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1. Bean Count
Specification:
Normally around 100 (1g/bean)
Max. 115 / 100 gr
Controlled by:
– Genotype or plant material
– Plant treatment and maintenance (fertilisation)
– Rain pattern - dry season - smaller beans
– Smaller beans have higher shell content
 C A C A O

2. Waste
Waste of cocoa beans consists of:
flatbeans
broken beans

peaces of hull and shell

clusters

foreign matter

peaces of dry placenta

 C A C A O
2. Waste

Procedure:
1. Weigh 2 kg of the sample and record
2. Sample manually sorted for matters
(broken,cluster, etc)
3. Weigh categories of material and
result are expressed as percentage
 WASTE CATEGORY

Foreign Matter
Waste which is
not a part of
bean, like stone,
placenta, hull,
etc
 WASTE CATEGORY

Cluster
A bean clump
made up of 3 or
more beans
 WASTE CONTROL FOR COCOA BEANS

- Separate diseased beans and

foreign matter (sorting)
- Avoid using sharp objects to split
cocoa pod
- Separate placenta
- Separate/isolate cluster beans
 C A C A O
3. Bean Cut Test
 Observe physical apperance of interior of
cocoa bean by cutting it by its longitudinal
axis
 Samples mixed, quartered and 300 beans
tested (3X100 beans)
 Parameters bserved:
– Colour indicating degree of fermentation
– Insect infestation
– Mould contamination
– % of germinated beans
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3. Bean Cut Test

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3. Bean Cut Test
Brown
- Fully fermented
beans
- Open cotyledons
- Over-fermented
beans are more
dark brown color
 C A C A O
3. Bean Cut Test
Brown/Purple
- All beans showing any
blue, purple or violet
colour on exposed
surface
- This group indicate
variable fermentation
level with colours
between purplish colour
of underfermneted
beans and brown of fully
fermented beans
 C A C A O
3. Bean Cut Test
Purple
- All the beans whith
appearance of purple of
violet colour over all the
exposed surface
- Or > 50% of surface of
beans is purple and the
rest is slaty
- Also can be observed
less open structure of
cotyledons (cheesy -
compact texture)
 C A C A O
3. Bean Cut Test
Slaty
- all the beans with
grayish - slaty
appearance
- unfermented beans
- darker on surface
- very compact structure
(cheesy)
 C A C A O
3. Bean Cut Test
Mouldy
- All the beans
with mould
observed inside
the cotyledon
 C A C A O
3. Bean Cut Test
Infested
- All the beans with
observed insect
infestation inside
the nib
- beans with traces
of insect drilling
 C A C A O
3. Bean Cut Test
Germinated
- All the beans with
observed
germination
- observing the
hole in base of
the beans
 Changes of cut test during the
storage of beans
 After fermented cocoa beans are dry they
will still change their colour
 Flavour development continue

 Part of purple/brown beans will be

transformed into brown
 Part of purple will be transformed to
brown/purple
 Slaty beans will normally remain slaty
Changes of cut test during the
storage of fermented cocoa
1 2 0 .0 0

1 0 0 .0 0

8 0 .0 0
%

6 0 .0 0

4 0 .0 0

2 0 .0 0

0 .0 0
B r o w n b e fo r e s to r a g e B r o w n a fte r s to r a g e B /P b e fo r e s to r a g e B /P a fte r s to r a g e P u r p le b e fo r e s to r a g e P u r p le a fte r s to r a g e

Brown stored B/P stored Purple stored

Brown Brown/Purple Purple
 C A C A O
4. SHELL CONTENT
Definition:
The shell content is calculated as a
percentage of the total bean weight
 C A C A O
4. SHELL CONTENT
Procedure:
1. Roasting
- Set oven at 145oC and pre-heat until
temperature stabilised
- 110 gr of beans
- Place in shallow perforated tray and spread beans to depth of
one bean
- Roast for 30 minutes
- Remove from oven and cool on tray 30 minutes
2. Deshelling
- When beans suitably cooled, manually deshelled by using pen
knife
- Weight separate portions of shell and nib
3. Reporting
Weight Shell
x 100% = % shell
Weight of Sehll + Weight Nib
 C A C A O
4. SHELL CONTENT
Average fermented 13-14%
Ghana 11-13%
PNG 16-17%
Sulawesi 10-12% (underfermented)

Causes for high shell content

- Genetic materials with high shell content
- Dry weather
- Small and flat beans
- Diseased beans
- Pulp sticking to the shell
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5- Moisture analysis
 Maximum 7.5%

 Balance water analysis

 NIR
 C A C A O

6- Fat content analysis

 NIR analyser

 Soxhlet

 Soxtech
 Grinding of cocoa beans
Cocoa Beans
Pre - Cleaning
Micronising
Breaking
Winnowing
Roasting
Milling
Cocoa Liquor Pressing

Freezing Cocoa Cake Cocoa Butter

Packaging Alkalising Moulding/Freezing

Milling Packaging

Cocoa Powder

Packaging