Biotechnological starter potential for cocoa fermentation from cabruca systems / Potencial biotecnológico de leveduras starter na fermentação do cacau de sistema cabruca

Abstract

Cocoa is a fruit of great economic importance, being the main raw material in the manufacture of chocolate. Among the stages of pre-processing, the main and most important is the spontaneous fermentation of the cocoa pulp by microorganisms, especially the yeasts, which initiate the process and contribute to the death of the germ of the seed, releasing compounds that directly influence the quality of the final product (flavor and aroma). Poorly fermented almonds confer bitter and astringent taste on chocolate, so it is advantageous to select autochthonous yeasts with better performance in the fermentation (producing enzymes of interest in the process) to be used as inoculum starter when added in the spontaneous fermentation, where they can accelerate the fermentation and contribute to raising the quality of the product. Therefore, the objective of this work was to qualitatively determine the production of enzymes of biotechnological interest by yeasts for the fermentation of cocoa through the cup plate method, in order to select a candidate yeast inoculum and use molecular typing technique to evaluate the diversity. Many promising yeasts were identified for use as inoculum among the diverse yeast groups found.