PHYSICOCHEMICAL, TOTAL PHENOLIC CONTENT, ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY, AND SENSORY ACCEPTABILITY OF MILK AND DARK CHOCOLATES FILLED WITH SACHA INCHI GANACHE
Authors: Izzreen Ishak, Sam Khai Ly, Johari Khaironi, Fisal Ahmad, Noor Soffalina Sofian Seng, Maaruf Abd Ghani
Journal Issue: Malaysian Cocoa Journal, Volume 15(2)/2023
Keywords: Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, sacha inchi ganache, antioxidant activity, sensory acceptability
Published On: 27/10/2023
Abstract
Ganache consists of cocoa butter, white chocolate and dairy cream that can be used as a choco-late filling. Nowadays, several plant seeds are incorporated into the ganache to improve the flavours, shelf life and nutritional composition. Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) is a seed that contains essential amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals, polyphenols and dietary fibre. In this study, ganache added with 10% sacha inchi was developed as a filling for milk and dark chocolates. The effect of sacha inchi ganache on the physico-chemical, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity and sensory acceptability of milk and dark chocolates was evaluated. Milk and dark chocolates filled with ganache (without sacha inchi) were used as control samples throughout the analysis. Incorporating sacha inchi ganache decreased significantly (p<0.05) the moisture and water activity of milk and dark chocolates compared to the control samples. Furthermore, the crude fibre content of milk and dark chocolates filled sacha inchi ganache were higher than the control samples. However, no significant differences (p>0.05) in hardness for all chocolate samples. Dark chocolate filled with sacha inchi ganache contains the highest total phenolic content and antioxidant activity compared to other chocolate samples. In terms of sensory evaluation, the mean scores for overall acceptability of the milk and dark chocolates filled with sacha inchi ganache corresponded to “like”, which are similar (p>0.05) with control samples. Therefore, the addition of sacha inchi ganache improves the crude fibre, antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of milk and dark chocolates, which is well-accepted by consumers.