Development of Concentrated Cocoa Extract using Maceration and Solvent Removal for Flavoring Use

In recent years, natural extracts have experienced an increase in market demand. This research was conducted using cocoa powder from undersized cacao beans as a cheaper source of raw material to make natural cocoa extracts. Extraction was done through maceration of the powder using propylene glycol and food grade ethanol 70% solvents, which methods were further optimized with more efficient separation and solvent removal steps. The ratio of extract to solvent used in this experiment was 1:3 powder to solvent respectively. For propylene glycol solvent, maceration parameters to extract cocoa powder were at 40°C for 24 hours using the filtration method to separate the suspension to gain TDS 125.7 ppm. Whereas for the ethanol solvent, the cocoa extract had saturated TDS at 254.5 ppm with maceration parameters at room temperature for 3 hours, followed by centrifugation. The removal of solvent was carried out using open-dish evaporation to increase the cocoa extract concentration by 2-folds. Propylene glycol base cocoa extract sample was heated at 120°C and ethanol base cocoa extract sample was heated at 80°C until the volume decreased 50 percent from the initial volume and achieved the TDS of 138.5 ppm and 664.03 ppm respectively. The concentrated cocoa extract samples were compounded into 10% composition in propylene glycol before applied with 0.1% dosage into a water base with 5% sugar for tasting purpose. The tasting solutions were then evaluated through sensory study using paired comparison test and paired preference test (N=40). Results showed no significant difference when both solutions were compared. The preference test showed that cocoa aroma from a solution made from ethanol based cocoa extract was more significantly preferred (α = 0.05). Extraction of cocoa powder as raw material with ethanol as solvent was determined to be more efficient to make natural extract for flavoring ingredients than roasted cacao nibs and the use of propylene glycol solvent