Effect of Placenta and Fermentation Duration on Drying Dynamics of Cocoa Beans in a Tropical Environment

Abstract

Cocoa is an important economic crop and has many uses industrially and locally. For its chocolate flavour to be obrained proper fermentation, drying and other postharvest practices needs to be done. A study was conducted to examine the effect of placenta and varied fermentation periods on drying time and moisture reabsorption of cocoa beans from December, 2017 to January, 2018. Experimental design was 2×5 factorial of placenta inclusion or exclusion and varied fermentation days in CRD and replicated three times. Parameters studied included; drying time, weight loss, moisture reabsorption. The study revealed that placenta exclusion and fermenting for at least six days quickened the drying time (5 days) and boosted the mean bean weight of the cocoa beans. Also significantly maximum % moisture reabsorption (0.51%) was produced by cocoa beans w ith placenta fermented for eight days and the minimum (0.26%) was recorded by cocoa beans without placenta fermented for eight days. It was concluded that for the production of premium quality cocoa beans, fermentation should be done for, at least, six days without placenta since that reduced the time of drying significantly.