Determination of the physical properties of fermented and dried Venezuelan Trinitrio cocoa beans (Theobroma cacao L.)

Abstract

Some important physical properties of Venezuelan Trinitario cocoa beans (Theobroma cacao L.) were determined, such as average dimensions of beans (length, width and thickness), bean weight; weight of 1000-beans; sphericity; geometric diameter; geometry index; surface area; bean volume; bulk density; particle density; and porosity. The shape of the beans could be approximated to that of a scalene ellipsoid, characterized by three different orthogonal dimensions (length, width