Investigating Key Volatile Compound Diffusion in Cocoa Beans during Yeast Fermentation-like Incubation.

An experimental setup was devised to investigate the permeability of cocoa bean seed coat and pulp to key volatile compounds during fermentation. Four labeled compounds (ethyl acetate-3, ethyl octanoate-15, 2-phenylethanol-5, linalool-5) and 2 unlabeled (beta-damascenone, delta-decalactone) were chosen for the investigation. The beans (cotyledons), depulped beans, or pulped beans were immersed separately in a concentrated solution of these volatile compounds at 36 or 46 °C for durations ranging from 3 to 120 h.