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Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, Department of Dairy Technology The Ohio State University, Columbus
ABSTRACT
The study was intended to explore the relationship between the flavor quality of chocolate ice creams and differences in the type of chocolate product (cocoa, blend, and liquor) made from two kinds of cacao beans: Accra—a basic bean, and LaGuayra—a flavor bean. Generally, it is accepted that basic beans provide the foundation in flavoring materials and flavor beans are flavor modifiers or intensifies. In this study, flavor quality differences were observed between chocolate products from the two bean sources, and the information obtained from the Dairy Technology Staff Panel and the Industrial Ice Cream Manufacturers Panel reveals the panels to be generally in agreement that the basic bean products were as good as or better than the flavor bean products. This indicates that the use of a flavor bean chocolate per se is no assurance that excellence in flavor will be achieved.
Frequently, it is claimed that a better flavor can be obtained by use of a chocolate liquor than by the use of the lower-fat cocoa from the same source. With respect to this, Sommer (3) demonstrated that the flavor in ice cream was the same when the chocolates were prepared under similar conditions, were made from the same lots of beans, were used in equal concentrations of fat-free chocolate solids, and when the total fat content of the mixes was identical. In the present study, evidence was obtained which indicated a general inverse relationship between flavor quality and the cocoa fat content of the chocolate flavoring materials. For example, chocolate ice cream prepared with the lower cocoa-fat containing product was generally superior to that prepared with the high-fat liquor products of the same bean source. Frequently, the high-fat liquor products were criticized for possessing an unnatural flavor.
Mixtures of cocoa and liquor from the two bean sources yielded the most acceptable products when the two different cocoas were combined or when the Accra cocoa was combined with the LaGuayra liquor. A combination of the two liquors yielded the least acceptable product.
One needs to recognize that these findings may not be directly and entirely accepted as being typical of commercial conditions. For example, this study involves only two bean varieties, one basic type and one flavor type, and they cannot be expected to reflect necessarily results which might be obtained by use of other bean varieties representing these same two classifications. Secondly, in commercial practices, chocolate flavoring materials are composed of a mixture of chocolate from different bean sources. Thirdly, the chocolate products studied were natural-processed, rather than Dutch-processed, and the dutching would be expected to have a significant effect on the flavor characteristics. The findings do emphasize, however, that reliable flavor evaluation and not bean names or cocoa fat content would appear to constitute the most logical basis for selecting chocolate flavoring materials for ice cream or similar products.
The infrared spectographic results reveal marked chemical differences between the basic and flavor bean chocolates. However, the correlation, if any, between the chemical entities responsible for these differences and the flavor imparted to ice cream remains to be determined.
1 Article 24-64. The Department of Dairy Technology. Research supported by a grant, from the American Dairy Association.
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