Improving cocoa fermentation
The Barry Callebaut Group, VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) and KU Leuven (University of Leuven), with the support of IWT (Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology-Flanders), have improved the process of cocoa fermentation.
Building on techniques inspired by Belgian brewers, the researchers have developed a special yeast that unlocks the flavour and aroma precursors in cocoa beans and enriches the chocolate’s full flavour development. With the new yeast Barry Callebaut will now be able to customise the flavour development of cocoa to the specific needs and wants of its customers more than ever.
For the past three years, Professor Kevin Verstrepen and his team at VIB and KU Leuven isolated hundreds of different yeasts from cocoa fermentation processes on various pilot sites of the Barry Callebaut Group in Africa and Asia Pacific. These yeasts were then examined in labs to determine which characteristics yielded superior chocolate. Based on the results, the research team developed a new yeast strain combining all the desirable traits. “When this ‘new yeast’ is added while the cocoa is fermented in the bush, the process becomes faster and more consistent. Moreover, the new yeast strain produces more desirable aroma compounds and hampers the growth of unwanted yeast. The result is even tastier chocolate,” elaborates Professor Verstrepen.
The whole process of cocoa fermentation is based on Saccharomyces cerevisiae or the yeast used to brew beer. “A completely natural process – refined during a hundred years of winemaking and beer brewing – now makes it possible to unlock the flavour and aroma precursors in the cocoa beans. A Belgian artisan product will now contribute to a new national pride. We could not make this story any more Belgian,” says Gino Vrancken, global R&D program manager at the Cocoa Science Team at the Barry Callebaut Group.
