Extracción de mucílago de cáscara de Theobroma cacao L. para uso en clarificación de jugos de Saccharum officinarum

The objective was to establish the state of maturity, chopping condition and time of immersion in water of the national cocoa shell to obtain a natural flocculant. The procedure was established by the heuristic method, prior to establishing the experimental design with 3 factors a„b„c of a complete 2n design, being a factor shell of national cocoa (pintón and mature), b factor condition of cutting (thick pieces from 3.5 to 4.5 cm, and fine pieces from 0.3 to 0.6 cm) and, c factor immersion time in water (60 and 80 minutes), and, from the combination of factors, eight treatments with three repetitions were established, giving 24 experimental units. The a1b1c1 treatment (mature national cocoa shell, fine pieces of 0.3 to 0.6 cm, 80 minutes of immersion in water) reached the threshold viscosity established as a goal. La cáscara cortada del cacao (Theobroma cacao L) nacional, CCN-51 y otras variedades cuando están en contacto con el agua tienen la propiedad de desprender una sustancia gelatinosa denominada mucílago, que cambian el color y la viscosidad; cuyo fenómeno es observado al cosechar cacao en épocas de lluvia (Fernández et al., 2020).