Water sorption isotherms of non-fermented cocoa beans (Theobroma cacao)

摘要

The water sorption isotherms of non-fermented (Venezuelan fine second grade) cocoa beans (Theobroma cacao) were determined at three temperatures typically found during storage in tropical countries (25 deg. C, 30 deg. C and 35 deg. C). For this purpose the grounded samples were equilibrated in desiccators containing 17 saturated salt solutions of known a_w at the temperatures studied, covering a range of a_w from 0.08 to 0.94. the desiccators with the samples were kept in temperature-controlled incubators at the temperatures indicated above (±0.5 deg. C).