NEW flavors Peruvian cacao COLLECTION

PUBLIC RELEASE: 26-SEP-2011

New flavors emerge from Peruvian cacao collection trip

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE - RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND ECONOMICS

New cacao types with unique flavors that are distinctly Peruvian have been identified by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. These new flavors could one day be marketed like wine, by geographical provenance.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at the agency's Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory (SPCL) and Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory (SMML), both in Beltsville, Md., and Peruvian collaborators found these new cacao plants during collection expeditions in 2008 and 2009 in the Amazon Basin of Peru.

ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priority of promoting international food security.

The researchers found hundreds of new cacao tree samples during the trips. One of these, discovered by collaborators from Maranon Chocolate, was Pure Nacional, an old, very rare, and highly coveted variety that has garnered a great deal of interest from makers of fine-flavored chocolates. Chocolate is produced from cacao.

This industry covets new and unique flavor sources. Usually, cacao trees are found along rivers, but these gems were found at a higher altitude than normal, and in Peru instead of Ecuador or Venezuela.

SPCL research leader Lyndel Meinhardt and geneticist Dapeng Zhang collaborated with the Instituto de Cultivos Tropicales (ICT), a research center in San Martin, Peru, to identify the new varieties of cacao. The researchers are studying 342 cacao specimens collected from 12 watersheds and categorizing the DNA of the specimens.

ARS and ICT are helping Peru create its own niche in the chocolate industry by working with San Martin's Oro Verde cooperative and Maranon Chocolate. Peru's tropical conditions-60 percent of the country is covered in tropical forest-make it ideal for producing cacao, and specialty chocolates.

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Read more about this research in the September 2011 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/sep11/cacao0911.htm

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).

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CACAO collection for combating witches' broom DISEASE

PUBLIC RELEASE: 15-SEP-2011

Cacao collection expedition may yield weapons for combating witches' broom disease

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE - RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND ECONOMICS

Fungi found in the leaves and trunks of wild Peruvian cacao trees offer the potential for biological control of cacao diseases such as witches' broom disease, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. Several of the fungal species were previously unknown to science.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) researchers at the agency's Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory (SPCL) and Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory (SMML) in Beltsville, Md., and Perguvian collaborators conducted cacao collection expeditions in 2008 and 2009 through the Amazon Basin Dapen Zhang of Peru. The Peruvian Amazon is the heart of the center of diversity for cacao and holds great potential for finding undiscovered cacao and fungal species.

ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priority of promoting international food security.

During the 2008 collection trip to Peru, SPCL research leader Lyndel Meinhardt recorded the incidence of witches' broom disease in wild cacao trees in the upper Amazon region. The disease can cause yield losses of 75 percent in susceptible varieties. A team of scientists, including SPCL geneticist Dapeng Zhang, SMML mycologist Gary Samuels, Meinhardt and others, found that about 14 percent of flower cushions and 13 percent of trunks of wild cacao plants along the rivers were infected with witches' broom disease. This suggests that there is a high level of witches' broom disease resistance in these wild Peruvian cacao populations.

The fungi found in disease-free leaves and trunks of collected cacao tree tissue samples may provide protection against diseases such as witches' broom disease either by stimulating the immune system of the plants or through direct parasitism or antibiotic effects against pathogens. Samuels found several fungal species previously unknown to science in the cacao tissues. The potential for biological control using these fungi is being evaluated by SPCL scientists Bryan Bailey and Ron Collins.

Meinhardt, Zhang and Samuels collaborated with the Instituto de Cultivos Tropicales (ICT), a research center in Tarapoto, San Martin, Peru, to identify new varieties of cacao. The researchers are studying 342 cacao specimens collected from 12 watersheds and are categorizing the DNA of the specimens.

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Read more about this research in the September 2011 issue of Agricultural Research magazine. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/sep11/cacao0911.htm

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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CHOCOLATE: Más cacao, mayor capacidad antioxidante // More cocoa, higher antiox capacity

En Chocolate, más cacao significa mayor capacidad antioxidante.

In Chocolate, More Cocoa Means Higher Antioxidant Capacity

USDA/Agricultural Research Service

Cacao en polvo contiene antioxidantes más beneficiosos que otros productos de chocolate, pero el procesamiento disminuye su contenido. Esta es la conclusión y resultados de un estudio por el Servicio de Investigación Agrícola (ARS) y sus colaboradores interesados ​​en la capacidad antioxidante total (TAC) y los niveles de procianidinas en seis productos de chocolate y cacao: polvos (sin azúcar) de cacao naturales, procesados ​​(alcalizado) cacao holandés en polvo, sin endulzar chocolates para hornear, semi-dulce fichas hornear chocolate, chocolate oscuro y chocolate con leche.

Cocoa powder contains more beneficial antioxidants than other chocolate products, but processing decreases their contents. Those are the results of a study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their cooperators interested in the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and procyanidin levels of six chocolate and cocoa products: natural (unsweetened) cocoa powders, Dutch processed (alkalinized) cocoa powders, unsweetened baking chocolates, semi-sweet chocolate baking chips, dark chocolates, and milk chocolates.

El chocolate y el cacao en polvo se derivan de semillas o habas (cotiledones) que contienen cantidades considerables de antioxidantes naturales llamados flavonoides. Los investigadores encontraron cacao natural contiene la mayor capacidad del antioxidante procianidina. Se considera que los antioxidantes son eficaces para ayudar a prevenir el cáncer, enfermedades del corazón y derrame cerebral.

Chocolate and cocoa powder are derived from beans that contain hefty quantities of natural antioxidants called flavonoids. The researchers found natural cocoa contains the highest capacity of the antioxidant procyanidin. Antioxidants are thought to be effective in helping to prevent cancer, heart disease, and stroke.

Ronald L. Prior, nutricionista del ARS en el Centro de Nutrición de Niños de Arkansas (ACNC) en Little Rock, Arkansas, presentó los resultados del estudio en San Diego, California. Hoy con Liwei Gu y Xianli Wu de ACNC y Jim Harnly, un químico en el ARS en Beltsville (Md.) Centro de Investigación de Nutrición Humana. Ellos presentaron los hallazgos en Biología Experimental 2005, un encuentro anual que reúne a 16.000 científicos de las ciencias biológicas, biomédicas y de otras áreas.

Ronald L. Prior, an ARS nutritionist at the Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center (ACNC) in Little Rock, Ark., presented the study's results in San Diego, Calif., today with Liwei Gu and Xianli Wu of ACNC and Jim Harnly, a chemist at the ARS Beltsville (Md.) Human Nutrition Research Center. They presented the findings at Experimental Biology 2005, an annual meeting that brings together 16,000 biological and biomedical scientists from dozens of different disciplines.

Los investigadores encontraron que el cacao natural en polvo contienen los más altos niveles de TAC y procianidinas, que resultaron ser el antioxidante dominante en el chocolate. Chocolates de leche, que contienen la menor cantidad de sólidos de cacao, tenían los niveles de TAC y procianidinas más bajos. Chocolates "hornada" contenían menos procianidinas, porque contienen más grasa (50-60 %) que el cacao natural. La alcalinización, usada para reducir la acidez y aumentar el pH de cacao, tales como chocolates holandeses, reduce significativamente el contenido de procianidinas. Los investigadores concluyeron que los chocolates que contienen cantidades más altas de ingredientes de cacao tienen contenidos de procianidinas más altos, por lo tanto, las capacidades antioxidantes superiores.

The researchers found natural cocoa powders contained the highest levels of TAC and procyanidins, which were found to be the dominant antioxidant in chocolates. Milk chocolates, which contain the least amount of cocoa solids, had the lowest TAC and procyanidin levels. Baking chocolates contained fewer procyanidins, because they contained more fat (50-60 percent) than natural cocoa. Alkalinization, used to reduce the acidity and raise the pH of cocoa, such as Dutch chocolates, was found to markedly reduce procyanidin content. Researchers concluded that chocolates containing higher amounts of cocoa ingredients have higher procyanidin contents, therefore, higher antioxidant capacities.

Nueve grandes fabricantes proporcionaron muestras de chocolate y cacao disponibles en el mercado y el Instituto Nacional de Estándares y Tecnología presentó su referencia estándar de chocolate para el análisis. El estudio fue parcialmente financiado por una subvención del Instituto Americano de Investigación del Cacao.

Nine major manufacturers provided commercially available chocolate and cocoa samples and the National Institute of Standards and Technology provided its Standard Reference chocolate for analysis. The study was partially funded by a grant from the American Cocoa Research Institute.

ARS es la agencia principal de investigaciones científicas del USDA.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.

Nota original completa, AQUÍ.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050421234416.htm