Compare the Physical Quality of Dried Cocoa beans from drying methods in terms of Appearance, Structural Features, Shelf life and other Defects

Abstract

The research was conducted to investigate the effect of drying methods on the drying properties on the quality of cocoa beans in Agricultural Engineering Department, Njala University, and Njala Campus, Sierra Leone. The pods were divided into 8 parts, 53 pods per sample and depodded. Four samples were washed and four unwashed from the 53 pods and fermented with box methods. Also, from these samples, four were solar dried and four sun dried. All samples were labeled with randomization, Samples A, D, F and H were solar dried while Samples B, C, E and G sun dried. Furthermore, laboratory investigations: pH test, sucrose test, bulk density, cutting test, physical properties and sensory evaluation: colour, taste, texture, aroma and grade were. Sensory evaluation revealed that washed bens scored 70% chocolate colour for both drying methods, 80% aroma, texture 90% for all washed. When graded, solar dried beans scored 70% grade 1 and sun dried scored 80% grade 1. Also, the weight of unwashed solar dried beans recorded 9.61 kg and 10.09 kg sun dried, the pH of all washed beans are high with maximum value 7.3 and the sucrose content of unwashed was reported high as 0.405% in box fermented beans.