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Fermentation is critical for producing high‐quality cocoa, yet its kinetics and resulting chemical and sensory outcomes are poorly understood and thus difficult to manage. Cocoa sweatings (CS), the liquid runoff produced early during fermentation and typically drained off, may beneficially affect fermentation outcome when added back into the fermenting mass. Here, we report how back‐addition of CS affects composition and sensory perception of roasted cocoa liquor after 5, 6, and 7 days of fermentation. Cocoa liquor (= 100% chocolate) made from beans fermented for 5 days with the addition of CS were similar in sensory perception to those fermented for 7 days without added CS. Twenty‐one flavor compounds showed similar patterns to the sensory results: In the beans fermented with CS, these compounds remained at similar levels after 5, 6, and 7 days of fermentation, while the same compounds significantly changed in the samples fermented conventionally, without CS addition. These results suggest a link between changes in flavor composition and sensory differences in roasted cocoa. Future work is needed to reveal the mechanism of flavor stabilization throughout fermentation resulting from the back‐addition of CS. Practical Application: Roasted cocoa liquor fermented with cocoa sweating (CS) is sensorily similar when fermented for 5 or 7 days and produces cocoa that is sensorily similar to traditionally fermented cocoa in shorter time (5 days vs. 7 days). The addition of CS seems to stabilize 21 flavor compounds throughout fermentation mimicking changes in sensory perception. The back‐addition of CS could help standardize cocoa fermentation as indicated by more consistent temperature evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite Capsicum's importance in the Caribbean, comprehensive diversity studies of this species in the region are limited, especially regarding its morphological variation. This study evaluated 37 traits (seedling, vegetative and reproductive) in 201 accessions among four Capsicum species. Multivariate analyses revealed that (i) 54% of the quantitative (seedling and fruit) variation and (ii) 64% of the qualitative (floral and fruit) variation were explained by the first two components. The three main clusters identified did not immediately highlight geographic and species-specific separation. However, significance testing revealed some separation based on geographic subgroups and species assignment. Most Southern Caribbean accessions were considerably similar to each other (if not identical in some cases), thus providing opportunity to identify and remove duplicates from the collection. These Southern Caribbean accessions shared their greatest similarity with Upper Amazon accessions, and least similarity with Lower Amazon accessions, suggesting movement of material primarily from the Upper Amazon into the Southern Caribbean Basin. The dominant differentiating traits displayed in these Southern Caribbean accessions are probably due to strong active selection for certain morphotypes and not to founder effects. Upper and Lower Amazon accessions were largely well differentiated from each other, highlighting key underlying genetic differences between these two populations and possible ongoing barriers to germplasm exchange. Central American, Greater Antilles/Bahamas and Guiana Shield accessions shared similarities with both the Upper and Lower Amazon populations, hinting at probable introductions from both Amazon regions. Collectively, this provides essential baseline information on the morphological (and underlying genetic) relationships among these accessions to guide future characterisation and evaluation efforts on this collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]