LAUSR

ABSTRACT Demand of dark chocolate with high cocoa content is increasing worldwide, which means having to find alternative processing methods that allow to dispense with the main ingredient in chocolate: cocoa liquor. To fulfil this goal, we propose using cocoa butter and cocoa cake as their price and duties can be lower than those of liquor. In line with this, the two objectives of this work were to formulate chocolate from reconstituted cocoa liquor and high cocoa content (95%) and to compare its physico-chemical and sensory properties with those of traditionally prepared chocolate containing the usual cocoa percentages (70%). The results showed that for the same percentage of cocoa, the chocolate formulated from reconstituted liquor were the same colour and had similar sensory acceptance despite them possessing less viscosity, and a slightly lower total polyphenols content and antioxidant capacity than those formulated withg cocoa liquor. Despite these differences, a principal component analysis and a sensory analysis revealed that the physico-chemical differences associated with formulation are less important than those caused by increasing the cocoa percentage. Consequently, the proposed method represents an interesting alternative to prepare cheaper chocolate in certain countries or at given times of the year.