Sensory profile of the cocoa clone (Theobroma cacao L.) CCN51 (first harvest of 2015)

Abstract

In this work, a preliminary evaluation was carried out on the first harvest of 2015 of the CCN 51 cocoa clone from the four agroforestry systems in which it is produced in Colombia: The "Santanderean Mountain" with samples from San Vicente de Chucuri, (S); "Dry Inter-Andean Valley" with samples from Gigante (H); "Tropical Humid Forest" with samples from Arauca and "Middle-lower Coffee Zone" with samples from San Jerónimo, (Ant.). Once the dry cocoa was obtained, the cocoa liquors were prepared in the laboratory and subjected to sensory evaluation by the group of expert judges from the Fedecacao laboratory located in San Vicente de Chucuri, who have undergone validation tests to guarantee a reliability level of 99.5%. The flavor profile was established according to the Colombian technical standard NTC 3929, using the consensus flavor profile technique established therein and generating the respective profiles for each sample and a global profile representative of the four systems under study. A profile was established for each system and a global one was consolidated for clone CCN 51, which is consistent with profiles made in previous studies where its cocoa flavor and some special flavor notes such as nutty and sweet are highlighted.