Sensorial evaluation of cacao

Bolivar department (Colombia) presents competent conditions as agricultural as cultural conditions for the productive development of fine aroma cacao. This activity offers a convincing opportunity for its sustainable development, economic development and social projection. The following research evaluated the sensorial characteristics of cacao Theobroma cacao L. in six regions in the southern part of Bolivar in order to determinate its own attributes and significant differences between these regions. For this purpose, a dry grains and cacao pods sampling was carried out, from the most representative clones of each region. The process was carried out with 18 judges trained to detected, describe and discriminate sensorial properties of cacao, who evaluated the samples though four sensorial test specifically designed to make the organoleptic characterization of cacao from Bolivar, selecting for his goal the descriptive test of taste and quantitative analysis and the discriminative arranging test and the control scaling. The physical and sensorial ground analysis revealed the correlation between the agro-ecological and technological conditions (especially those related with fermentation operations and/ or benefit) with sensorial qualities that this one possesses in its taste and aroma attributes. Key-words: perception, sensorial evaluation, cacao, benefit, quality El departamento de Bolivar (Colombia) presenta condiciones aptas tanto agricolas como culturales para el desarrollo productivo de cacao de fino aroma. Esta actividad ofrece una oportunidad conveniente para su desarrollo sostenible, economico y de proyeccion social. La presente investigacion evaluo las caracteristicas sensoriales del cacao Theobroma cacao L. en seis municipios del sur de Bolivar para determinar atributos propios y diferencias significativas entre estas regiones; para esto se realizo un muestreo de granos secos y mazorcas de cacao, de los clones mas representativos de cada municipio. El proceso se llevo a cabo con 18 jueces capacitados para detectar, describir y discriminar propiedades sensoriales en el cacao, quienes evaluaron las muestras a traves de cuatro pruebas sensoriales especificas disenadas para realizar la caracterizacion organoleptica del cacao de Bolivar, seleccionando para este fin las pruebas descriptivas de perfil de sabor y analisis cuantitativo y las pruebas discriminativas de ordenamiento y escalar de control. El analisis fisico y sensorial del grano revelo la correl