Production of Cookies Enriched with Bioactive Compounds through the Partial Replacement of Wheat Flour by Cocoa Bean Shells.

Approximately 500 thousand tons of cocoa bean shells (CSs) are generated annually and treated as waste. However, their composition is of great nutritional, technological, and economic interest due to their dietary fiber (46.4 to 60.6%), protein (11.6 to 18.1%), and lipid contents (2 to 18.5%), as well as the presence of flavonoids and alkaloids. Thus, this study aimed to obtain CS flour by milling the CSs, characterizing the flour according to its chemical composition and functionalities, and then applying it in the production of cookies, substituting a wheat flour portion (10, 20, 30, and 40%) with CS flour. Cookies were characterized in terms of water, lipids, proteins, phenolic (PC), and total flavanol (FLA) contents, and specific volume (SV), hardness (H), and L*, a*, and b color scale parameters. Increasing the amount of CS showed positive results, as the cookies were enriched with PC (0.68 to 2.37 mg gallic acid equivalents/g of sample) and FLA (0.10 to 0.19 mg epicatechin equivalents/g of sample) but increased hardness (353 to 472 N). By associating the responses, it was concluded that the wheat flour replacement with 30% CS presented values of PC and FLA 3 and 1.6 times higher than the control and could be a formulation of interest to consumers.

Simultaneous green extraction of fat and bioactive compounds of cocoa shell and protein fraction functionalities evaluation.

This work aimed to verify the feasibility of using alcoholic solvents under atmospheric pressure for the simultaneous extraction of fat and bioactive compounds from cocoa shell (CS), a byproduct of the cocoa industry, as well as to determine the influence of processing on the characteristics of defatted solids (DS). To this end, CS fat (CSF) extraction kinetics using ethanol or isopropanol as solvents were determined at 75 and 90 °C. Relative extraction yields of flavanols and alkaloids were determined, and protein functionalities such as the nitrogen solubility index were evaluated. CSF extraction yields from 36 to 70% were obtained with the highest figures related to absolute solvents. Conversely, hydrated alcohols were suitable to extract bioactive compounds, especially alkaloids, with extraction yields up to 73%. The best values of DS functionalities were obtained with the use of isopropanol, with a foaming capacity of (34 ± 2)% and stability of (57 ± 3)%; regarding emulsifying capability, the highest value was (126 ± 2) m2/g with a stability of (53 ± 4) min. CSF with a fatty acid composition similar to that of cocoa butter and DS with interesting protein functionalities were achieved, indicating that CS can be applied in food systems.