Effect of yeast consortium on chemical properties of fermented dried cocoa beans (Theobroma cacao L.).

Fermentation is one of the most crucial steps to improving the quality of cocoa beans. The majority of farmers in Indonesia do not ferment cocoa beans in its production, hence the beans produced are dried, unfermented cocoa beans. To improve the quality of dried cocoa beans, re-fermentation of cocoa beans can be done. During fermentation, microorganisms are involved, and one of the microorganisms known to be beneficial for cocoa bean fermentation is yeast. This study aimed to determine the effect of the yeast consortium addition on the chemical properties of the dried cocoa bean during fermentation. Fermentation was carried out for 48 hours in a styrofoam box by soaking the beans into the media of cocoa peel extract and yeast extract with the addition of five inoculum combinations, namely ABC, ABD, ACD, BCD, ABCD, from 4 yeast isolates P. kudriavzevii(A), P. scutulata (B), P. cecembensis(C), and S. cerevisiae(D). Temperature, pH, total polyphenols, antioxidant activity, reducing sugars, and fermentation index were evaluated during fermentation. Based on the research results, the temperature in all treatments remained at an average of 32-33.6°C, and the pH value constantly increased in the combination of ABD and ABCD with pH values of 6 and 7. The variety of ABD obtained the highest total polyphenol content at 23.18 mg/g. ABD treatment experienced the highest increase in reducing sugar (6.7 mg/g). The lowest antioxidant activity was obtained by the combination of ABCD (0.51%). The fermentation index (FI) of all treatments has increased, with ABC treatment having the highest FI value of 1.13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]