Mejoramiento de los procesos de fermentación para la elaboración de chocolate del Centro Agrícola del Cantón Quevedo

Cocoa is one of the most important global commodities, providing economic support to small and medium-sized farmers. The present research project aims to study the improvement of fermentation processes for the production of chocolate by the members of the Agricultural Center of Cantonal de Quevedo. The issue at hand is that the current cocoa bean fermentation and post-harvest methods significantly affect the physical and sensory quality of the beans. Inadequate cocoa fermentation adversely impacts the sensory quality of the beans by failing to effectively eliminate mucilage and causing chemical changes. A Completely Randomized Two-Factor Design was applied, with the first factor being "Cocoa Types" and the second factor being "Fermentation Methods." This design included 6 treatments with 3 replications, resulting in a total of 18 study objects. Morphological evaluation of the cocoa fruit and physicochemical evaluation of cocoa beans (temperature, pH, °Brix) were conducted. The fermentation incidence was also assessed through the cut test. The initial variables did not show any statistical differences. However, the best treatment was found to be National cocoa fermented in Rohan-type micro-fermentation boxes, which also showed a higher quantity of fermented beans in National and Trinitario cocoa varieties, in accordance with INEN 176 standards. Regarding sensory analysis, thetreatment with the highest acceptability was National cocoa fermented in Rohan boxes. The purpose of this research is to enhance the cocoa fermentation process to optimize both the physical and sensory quality of cocoa liquor. El cacaoes una de las materias primas más importantes a nivel mundial, siendo el soporte económico de pequeños y medianos agricultores, el presenté trabajo de investigación tiene comoobjetivo el estudio el mejoramiento de los procesos de fermentación para la elaboración de chocolate delos socios delCentro Agrícoladel Cantonal deQuevedo.Lo cualla incidenciade esta problemáticaque en la actualidad el método de fermentación y postcosecha de las almendras de cacao es un factor importante porque da origen a la calidad física y sensorial de la almendra, buscando la eliminación de mucilago y cambios químicos del cacao, al no tener una fermentación de cacao perjudica a la calidad sensorial de las almendras, se aplicó un Diseño Completamente al Azar bifactorial como primer factor (Tipos de cacao) y segundo factor (métodos de fermentación), conformado por 6 tratamientos y 3