Understanding and defining the quality-associated complexities of Theobroma cacao beans and its brewed beverage products

Taylor, Alexander Joseph

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125705 Copy

Description

Title

Understanding and defining the quality-associated complexities of Theobroma cacao beans and its brewed beverage products

Author(s)

Taylor, Alexander Joseph

Issue Date

2024-07-12

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Engeseth, Nicki J

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Miller, Michael

Committee Member(s)

• Lee, Youngsoo
• Andrade, Juan

Department of Study

Food Science & Human Nutrition

Discipline

Food Science & Human Nutrition

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

Cacao, quality, NIR, SCOBY, kombucha, tea, brew

Abstract

Theobroma cacao, also known as cacao, is a fruit-bearing crop that produces cacao pods. Inside each cacao pod are approximately 40 small seeds, known as cacao beans. Cacao beans are the main ingredient of the popular product: chocolate. For generations, cacao has been consumed as a velvety-smooth, delicious product. However, long ago, the ancient Mayans and Aztecs used to consume cacao as a frothy, rich beverage. This brewed cacao was invigorating and popular; it slowly became into the hot chocolate known today. Recently, though, brewed cacao has resurged in popularity, due to its claimed health benefits and as a non-addicting alternative to coffee. Farmers and businesses have used cacao nibs, cacao shells, or a mixture of the two and sold this product as a “brewed cacao tea.” This trend has allowed consumers to obtain all the health benefits of cacao without the large amounts of sugar and fat from milk. There has also been a trend to find other additional, functional beverages, such as kombucha. Additionally, the price of cacao has risen within the past decade. Due to this, there is a likelihood of adulteration or the use of low-quality cacao. One way to solve this problem would be apply and assess the use of NIR, a rapid, non-destructive method, as a way to determine cacao quality. The overall objective of this dissertation was to better understand the physicochemical aspects of brewing Theobroma cacao and the ability to create predictive models of cacao quality with new technologies. Cacao was examined as a brewed tea, as a functional kombucha beverage, and NIR utilized to create classification and prediction models for cacao quality. The physicochemical parameters examined throughout this dissertation were pH, titratable acidity, total phenolics, antioxidant capacity, theobromine content, color, turbidity, and the five components of proximate analysis (moisture, crude protein, crude fat, ash, and carbohydrates). In the brewed cacao and kombucha projects, various brewing methodologies and parameters were examined for their impact on the resulting beverages’ physicochemical properties. In the NIR spectroscopy project, the use of multivariate modeling methodologies was used to create classification and prediction models. Three classification models using support vector machine, artificial neural networks, and random forests were able to accurately classify cacao across three different categorical variables of geographical origin, genetic cultivar, and roasting profiles. Two regression models, principal component regression and partial least square regression, were also able to accurately predict ten physicochemical parameters of cacao. Overall, cacao is a multipurpose ingredient that can be used to create a variety of health-beneficial products, such as cacao tea or kombucha. Cacao quality is of the utmost importance and appropriate technologies must be used to examine cacao’s quality rather than a manual, visual inspection. The results presented in this dissertation indicate the importance of various brewing methodologies and their impacts on physicochemical parameters of cacao-based beverages. Also, these results indicate how useful NIR is as an inexpensive technology paired with multivariate statistics to classify and determine cacao quality without destroying the bean rapidly and accurately. This research has helped to understand the impact of various brewing methodologies on brewed cacao products and the use of NIR and multivariate modeling to classify and predict cacao quality. In any case, there are a lot of continuing directions for this area of research.

Graduation Semester

2024-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125705

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Alexander Taylor

Owning Collections