USE OF NEW METHODOLOGY IN RATE-ALL-THAT-APPLY (RATA) DESCRIPTIVE SENSORY ANALYSIS TO CHARACTERIZE DARK CHOCOLATES OF DIFFERENT CACAO CLONES
Chocolate is a product obtained by mixture of subproducts of cacao with ingredients. It is consumed worldwide and many types are avaiable. The objective was to evaluate dark artisan chocolates made with different variaties of cacao through acceptance tests and Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA) to identify a promising cacao clone for both farming and potential market. Four (A, B, C and D) chocolates without milk, containing 60% cacao obtained from four clonal variaties (CCN-51, PSH-1319, BN-34 and CATONGO) were respectively used. For the RATA, 32 attributes of the literature were listed and the acceptance tests used nine-point hedonic scales. Questionnaires with information on consumption, chocolate and health benefits were also applied, for 55 consumers. The majority of consumers (79.6%) were women, aged between 18 and 53 years. Of these, 44.4% reported consuming chocolate frequently and 69.81% reported having dark chocolate preference. On health benefits, 96.3% said believed in the positive relationship between chocolate and health. Acceptance averages were between 4.20 and 7.40, but showed no significant difference between the samples. RATA showed in the appearance category, as samples obtained low to medium intensity; Light brown color for low intensity observation for samples A, B and C while sample D obtained medium intensity. Dark brown color showed medium to high intensity. In aroma, low to medium intensity was observed for the burned, acid, sweet, cacao and bitter aromas. For flavor, with low or no intensity was nuts, caramel and vanilla; low to medium intensity was sweet, fruity, artificial, alcohol, spicy , residual sweet, acid, coffee, cacao, bitter. Residual bitter showed medium to high intensity. In oral perception, all terms showed low intensity. For texture, all samples demonstrate low and medium intensity for hard, creamy, homogeneous and soft textures. The RATA made it possible to measure the intensity of the attributes of each sample.