摘要 : Changes in acidification, proteolysis, sugars and free fatty acids (FFA) concn. of Ghanaian cocoa beans, as affected by pulp preconditioning (pod storage (PS)) and fermentation, were investigated. Non-volatile acidity, pH, proteol... 展开 Changes in acidification, proteolysis, sugars and free fatty acids (FFA) concn. of Ghanaian cocoa beans, as affected by pulp preconditioning (pod storage (PS)) and fermentation, were investigated. Non-volatile acidity, pH, proteolysis, sugars (total, reducing and non-reducing) and FFA concn. were analysed using standard methods. Increasing PS consistently decreased the non-volatile acidity with a concomitant increase in pH during fermentation of the beans. Fermentation decreased the pH of the unstored beans from 6.7 to 4.9 within the first 4 days and then increased slightly again to 5.3 by the sixth day. Protein, total sugars and non-reducing sugars decreased significantly (<i>p </i>< 0.05) during fermentation, whereas reducing sugars and FFA increased. PS increased FFA levels and reduced protein content, but did not have any effect on sugars. The rate of degeneration of total and non-reducing sugars with concomitant generation of reducing sugars in the cocoa beans was largely affected by fermentation than by PS. 收起