Approaches to Determine the Flavor and Flavor Chemistry of Cocoa Beans and Cocoa Liquor

Cocoa liquor is an important raw material for the chocolate manufacturing industry and directly influences the flavor of chocolate. Therefore, it is important to understand cocoa liquor flavor through sensory analysis and the sources of flavor through instrumental analyses. The first part of the review addresses the sensory characteristics of cocoa liquor. The latter two sections address the non-volatile and volatile compounds that influence these sensory characteristics. Approaches to extract volatile compounds from cocoa liquor are addressed along with extraction parameters that have been applied with cocoa liquor and related matrices, and the key extraction parameters that need to be considered for method development. Future work should encompass more studies that use sensory approaches (trained panel profiling and gas chromatography olfactometry) in conjunction with instrumental techniques to understand the flavor and flavor chemistry of cocoa liquor.