Crystallization and Melting Behavior of Cocoa Butter in Lipid Bodies of Fresh Cacao Beans

The present study aims at observing the crystallization and polymorphic behavior of cocoa butter (CB) in fresh cacao beans with DSC and X-ray diffraction techniques. Underlying idea of this study was to relate the necessary conditions of germination of cacao beans to the crystallization of CB, which are present in oil-in-water emulsion droplets (lipid bodies) with diameters of 1-2 μm. Different cooling and heating conditions, with rates of 15, 2, 0.5, and 0.1 °C/min, were applied to fresh cacao beans and compared to bulk CB. The results showed that the crystallization temperatures (Tc) of CB in fresh cacao beans were lower than those of bulk CB at all the experimental conditions. In addition, polymorphic behavior of the occurrence of metastable and stable forms of CB was also different between the fresh cacao beans and the bulk state. The thermal behavior of fresh and dried cacao beans that have different geographical origins was also analyzed. This study indicates that the germination conditions of cacao beans are extended to low-temperature environmental areas by reducing the Tc value of CB in fresh beans than of the bulk oil. The results were consistent with the germination experiments of fresh cacao beans at different temperatures.