Partial replacement of cocoa nibs with sorghum malt in chocolate: An evaluation of the blends' chemical compositions and sensory profiles

Abstract

Sorghum is widely grown in Nigeria, but scientific data is sparse about the replacement of cocoa nibs with sorghum malt in chocolate production. The nutritional colour, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) spectrum bands and sensory characteristics of plain chocolate and chocolate barsamples partially replaced with malted sorghum grits were evaluated. The level of replacement with malted sorghum in the chocolate-sorghum malt blends varied from 10-50%.The protein content of the samples reduced with increased replacement of cocoa nibs with malted sorghum, varied from 7.29% (10% inclusion) to 6.27% (50% inclusion) while the control sample had 8.05%. The crude fat, fibre, ash, moisture and carbohydrate content of the samples varied from 34.46-38.10, 2.51-1.17, 2.68-2.43, 5.76-1.41 and 47.2-48.84 respectively. The control sample had crude fat and carbohydrates values higher than the values obtained in the malted sorghum chocolate samples. The L* colour characteristics ranges from 29.23-36.27 (10-50% inclusion), and the control sample had 34.11. The colour characteristics of the malted sorghum chocolate revealed a reduction in the darkness of the samples with increased inclusion of the sorghum malt. The *a and*b colour characteristics varied significantly from 12.86 - 27.22. There was no profound difference between the atomic spectrum plain chocolate sample and malted sorghum chocolate samples. The sensory results showed that there are significant differences in the taste (6.4- 8.1) and overall acceptability (6.8 - 8.5) of the samples. The acceptance of the malted sorghum chocolate samples beyond 20% was almost in-achievable.