Metabolomics during the spontaneous fermentation in cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.): An exploraty review

Spontaneous fermentation is a process that depends on substrates' physical characteristics, crop variety, and postharvest practices; it induces variations in the metabolites that are responsible for the taste, aroma, and quality. Metabolomics makes it possible to detect key metabolites using chemometrics and makes it possible to establish patterns or identify biomarker behaviors under certain conditions at a given time. Therefore, sensitive and highly efficient analytical techniques allow for studying the metabolomic fingerprint changes during fermentation; which identify and quantify metabolites related to taste and aroma formation of an adequate processing time. This review shows that studying metabolomics in spontaneous fermentation permits the char-acterization of spontaneous fermentation in different stages. Also, it demonstrates the possibility of modulating the quality of cocoa by improving the spontaneous fermentation time (because of volatile aromatic compounds formation), thus standardizing the process to obtain attributes and quality that will later impact the chocolate quality.

Automated summary

Spontaneous fermentation is influenced by substrates, crop variety, and postharvest practices, leading to changes in metabolites responsible for taste, aroma, and quality. Metabolomics facilitates the detection of key metabolites and patterns under specific conditions, allowing for the study of metabolomic fingerprint changes during fermentation. This review highlights the characterization of spontaneous fermentation and its impact on cocoa quality by modulating fermentation time to improve volatile aromatic compounds formation.