Fermentation Trials Advice

Hi, newby on the list, but as a cacao grower, would definitely like to know what you find out. I’m a ancient biochemist, so hopefully I can assist if you get stuck…

That would be incredibly helpful Clay. I greatly appreciate your help, i’m in a dead end right now.

David – I have reached out to a fermentation expert I know who routinely did cotyledon pH testing. I am waiting to hear back. I will probably see her in Amsterdam next week and if I don’t hear from her before I will ask her there.

I also found reference about two different standards: AOAC 970.21 pH of cacao products, potentiometric method, and Electrometric pH Determination of cocoa and chocolate products IOCCC 15, but i´m not sure if these standards specifically state cotyledon pH measurements.

Hi, i have found this one: Two grams of nibs were homogenized for 30 s in 40 mL of hot distilled water
and then vacuum filtered through Whatman filter paper #4. A 25mL aliquot was
pipeted into a beaker and the pH was measured using a pH meter.

There are no industry-standard methods I am aware of.You can use a digital pH meter/thermometer but also make sure to record sugar level along with pH and temperature.

For measuring the pH of the cotyledon it’s necessary to remove the shell and then grind the cotyledon into a paste. You then take a measured amount of the paste in grams and add it to a measured amount of distilled water and then put that into (a comparatively expensive) lab pH measuring instrument. I don’t know what the amounts are, though.