Feasibility of a small‑scale production system approach for palm sugar sweetened dark chocolate

Palm sugar is highly produced and patronised in the South Eastern part of Asia, e.g. Indonesia which is also the world’s third largest cocoa producer. Recently, interest in palm sugar sweetened chocolate and better approaches for production methods that can be easily applied in developing countries are rising. This work investigated the influence of palm sugar on the quality attributes of dark chocolate in terms of fineness, rheological behaviour and aroma profile compared to that of sucrose. Furthermore, a small-scale processing approach using the combination of Stephan mixer and ball mill compared to the conventional method was investigated. The results showed that palm sugar sweetened chocolate exhibited a higher viscosity, a higher particle volume fraction and a higher degree of particle agglomeration due to its relatively high moisture and presence of glucose and fructose. Furthermore, chocolates sweetened with palm sugar displayed a distinctive aroma profile with the abundant presence of 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one (DDMP) and pyrazine-based compounds. Applying the alternative processing method leaded to the production of chocolate with rather high degree of agglomeration and viscosity as compared to chocolate produced by means of conventional processing. Moreover, the alternative processing method resulted in the presence of myrcene, ß-trans-ocimene and isoamyl acetate which were not observed in the conventionally produced chocolates. The alternative processing method, however, seems to have potential for small scale production of dark chocolate sweetened with palm sugar

Quality attributes of dark chocolates formulated with palm sap‑based sugar as nutritious and natural alternative sweetener

Consumer demand for healthier alternative sweeteners and attempts to replace the most common sweetener used in chocolate, namely sucrose, continue to increase in recent times. One sucrose alternative that has not been fully explored in chocolate is palm sap-based sugar. This work investigated the impact of sucrose replacement by coconut sugar (CCS1 and CCS2) and palm sugar (CPS1, CPS2 and CPS3) on the quality attributes of dark chocolate, more particularly colour, hardness, flow behaviour and aroma profile. The results showed that chocolates formulated with palm sap-based sugar were lighter in colour and harder than the reference chocolate made with sucrose, which could be attributed to a lower particle density and a higher moisture of palm sap based sugar than that of sucrose. Analysis of the major volatile compounds recorded the presence of 2,3‑dihydro‑3,5‑dihydroxy‑6‑methyl‑4(H)‑pyran‑4‑one (DDMP) and high concentration of pyrazine-based compounds in the palm sap-based sugar sweetened chocolates. The former compound (DDMP) was, however, absent in the sucrose sweetened dark chocolate. The physicochemical properties of the sugars also had a significant effect on the rheological behaviour of the final chocolates with chocolates formulated with coconut sugar recording the highest Casson viscosity. With regard to fat melting, chocolates sweetened with palm sap-based sugar and sucrose exhibited similar melting range temperature. Palm sap-based sugar nevertheless seems to have great potential for dark chocolate applications with additional health benefits