Cocoa substitute: Evaluation of sensory qualities and flavour stability

In the past few years, the price of cocoa has climbed very rapidly, so there is increasing incentive in food industry to find a real cocoa substitute. A mixture of milled chicory roots and carob pods (1:2, w/w) was used for preparation of real cocoa substitute via Maillard technology. Comparative studies concerning sensory characteristics and headspace volatiles were carried out between the real cocoa and prepared cocoa substitute. The sensory evaluation revealed high quality of the cocoa substitute sample in comparison with the real cocoa sample. The comparative odour profile analysis showed that the cocoa-like and sweetish/caramel attributes scored higher in cocoa sample than in cocoa substitute sample, whereas the roasty/earthy attributes showed an opposite trend. The chocolate attribute exhibited the same quality in both samples. The storage of the cocoa substitute sample for 6 months gave rise to an increase in the chocolate attribute. The other attributes showed opposite behaviour. The headspace volatiles of both real cocoa and cocoa substitute were isolated and subjected to gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis. Most of the volatile compounds identified in real cocoa especially the key odorants were represented in the cocoa substitute sample. The two compounds, 2-phenyl-2-butenal and 5-methyl-2-phenyl-2-hex-2-enals, that are important contributors to chocolate aroma, showed noticeable increase after storage of cocoa substitute sample for 6 months.