Chocolates, compounds and spreads: A review on the use of oleogels, hydrogels and hybrid gels to reduce saturated fat content.

This study is a bibliometric analysis and literature review on the use of oleogels (OGs), hydrogels (HGs) and hybrid gels (HYGs) in chocolate, compounds and spreads with the aim of reducing the saturated fat in these products. The articles were selected by analyzing titles, keywords and abstracts in the Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Supplementary documents were obtained from government sources, including patent registrations. The theoretical and practical aspects were critically analyzed, highlighting the main points of agreement and disagreement between the authors. The results revealed a lack of regulations and official guidelines that widely allow the use of OGs, HGs and HYGs in chocolate confectionery products. The type and characteristics of raw materials affect the properties of products. Replacing cocoa butter (CB) with OGs, HGs or HYGs also affects texture, melting point and behavior, and nutritional aspects. These substitutions can result in products with better sensory acceptance and health benefits, such as reducing saturated fat and promoting cardiovascular health. However, it is important to find the ideal combination and proportions of components to obtain the desired properties in the final products.

Influence of cocoa varieties on carbohydrate composition and enzymatic activity of cocoa pulp.

In Brazil, after the witch's broom disease incidence, diverse cocoa hybrids were developed, and variations were reported on their composition and characteristics. Based on this, the present study aimed to evaluate the pulp composition of several cocoa hybrids in order to better understand these variations. Results show that cocoa pulp is composed, on average, of 76 % sugar, and a wide variation (20 %) was observed in sugar content between hybrids. Regarding the sugar profile, a prevalence of reducing sugars was observed. Pod origin also plays an important role in pulp composition, with variations between hybrids from Espírito Santo and Bahia states. In relation to the degree of ripeness, ripe pods showed higher fructose and glucose content, while unripe pods presented mainly sucrose. Similar to sugars, the cello-oligossacharides profile was influenced by the degree of pod ripeness and origin and most ripe samples presented mainly cellobiose, cellotriose and cellotetrose. In addition, the prebiotic potential of cocoa pulp was highlighted by cello-oligossacharides digestion assay which exhibited low rates of degradation. Varying enzymatic activity was observed amongst different pulp hybrids, with polyphenol oxidase showing a higher variation when compared to invertase and polygalacturonase ranging. This study shows that the pod hybrid, origin and ripening degree may change the cocoa pulp composition. Therefore, it is very important to understand and evaluate these variations, in order to obtain better results in pulp utilization either in cocoa fermentation or as a coproduct.

Differentiation of cocoa nibs from distinct origins using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and multivariate analysis.

Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography was used for identification of volatiles compounds responsible for differentiation between cocoa nibs from Brazil and Ivory Coast. The unfolded GC×GC with Flame Ionization Detector (FID) chromatograms were first aligned using the correlation optimization warping (COW) algorithm and normalized. After that, Fisher ratio was calculated for each variable, and a threshold value was chosen to select the variables that best promote a separation of nibs samples from different sources in a principal component analysis (PCA) model. To identify the relevant compounds for the separation, representative samples of each source were analyzed in the same conditions by GC×GC with detection by quadrupole mass spectrometry. Finally, the average peak volumes for each key compound obtained for both classes were compared using a Student t-test and it was possible to identify 15 volatile compounds responsible for differentiation between cocoa nibs from Brazil and Ivory Coast.

Plant and metagenomic DNA extraction of mucilaginous seeds.

The pulp surrounding the seeds of some fruits is rich in mucilage, carbohydrates, etc. Some seeds are rich in proteins and polyphenols. Fruit seeds, like cacao (Theobroma cacao) and cupuassu (Theobroma grandiflorum), are subjected to fermentation to develop flavor. During fermentation, ethanol is produced [2-6]. All of these compounds are considered as interfering substances that hinder the DNA extraction [4-8]. Protocols commonly used in the DNA extraction in samples of plant origin were used, but without success. Thus, a protocol for DNA samples under different conditions that can be used for similar samples was developed and applied with success. The protocol initially described for RNA samples by Zeng et al. [9] and with changes proposed by Provost et al. [5] was adapted for extracting DNA samples from those described. However, several modifications have been proposed:•Samples were initially washed with petroleum ether for fat phase removal.•RNAse was added to the extraction buffer, while spermidin was removed.•Additional steps of extraction with 5 M NaCl, saturated NaCl and CTAB (10%) were included and precipitation was carried out with isopropanol, followed by washing with ethanol.