The Sensory Quality and Volatile Profile of Dark Chocolate Enriched with Encapsulated Probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum Bacteria

Abstract

Cocoa and dark chocolate have a wide variety of powerful antioxidants and other nutrients that can positively affect human health. Probiotic dark chocolate has the potential to be a new product in the growing number of functional foods. In this study, encapsulated potential probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum 564 and commercial probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum 299v were added in the production of dark chocolate. The results show very good survival of probiotic bacteria after production and during storage, reaching 108cfu/g in the first 60 days and over 106cfu/g up to 180 days. No statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) in chemical composition and no major differences in the volatile profiles between control and experimental chocolate samples were observed, indicating no impact of probiotic bacteria on compositional and sensory characteristics of dark chocolate. The sensory evaluation of control and both probiotic dark chocolate samples showed excellent sensory quality after 60 and 180 days of storage, demonstrating that probiotics did not affect aroma, texture and appearance of chocolate. Due to a high viability of bacterial cells and acceptable sensory properties, it can be concluded that encapsulated probiotics Lb. plantarum 564 and Lb. plantarum 299v could be successfully used in the production of probiotic dark chocolate.

Antioxidant Activities and Volatile Flavor Components of Selected Single-Origin and Blend Chocolates

“…The most predominant ester, found in all the samples, with highest concentration again in the sample from Madagascar, was phenyl acetate. This compound has been described as commonly found in dark chocolate and its aroma is similar to roses [ 40 ].…”

Physiological Responses to Basic Tastes for Sensory Evaluation of Chocolate Using Biometric Techniques

“…Industries are currently shifting towards the development of different types of food, for example incorporating aroma and flavor for beverages through encapsulation [71], enrichment of probiotic bacteria to dark chocolate [72], development of vanilla flavor encapsulated microcapsules that can be used for food [73], and fortification of dark chocolate with microencapsulated phytosterols [74]. The proposed methodology in this study can aid food industries in the development of new products incorporating novel flavors to chocolate, such as chili, sea salt, and bacon, among others.…”

Physicochemical properties and sensory acceptability of sugar free dark chocolate formulations added with probiotics

“…In addition to the protective characteristics of chocolate, microencapsulation of probiotics comprises the segregation of bacterial cells from the external environment by enclosing them in covalently or ionically crosslinked polymer networks, giving double protection to increase viability (Mirković et al, 2018;Marcial-Coba et al, 2019).…”