Evaluación del efecto de mucílago de cacao y levaduras en la calidad final de una bebida alcohólica tipo vino

Cocoa mucilage is a by-product of Theobroma cacao, which contains a rich source of sugar that facilitates alcohol production through fermentation. However, it has been scarcely studied from a technical perspective. In this context, the present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of two factors: A: Cocoa mucilage variety (A1: CCN51 and A2: Arriba) and B: Yeast strain (B1: Saccharomyces Cerevisiae SafAle BE-256 at 26°C and B2: Saccharomyces Pastorianus SafLager W-34/70 at 20°C) on the final quality of a wine-like alcoholic beverage. A completely randomized design (CRD) with a two-factor arrangement was used, resulting in four treatments with four replicates each. Four physicochemical parameters were analyzed: °Brix (%), pH, acidity (acetic acid), and alcohol content (%). Furthermore, a sensory preference ranking test (1 = most preferred and 4 = least preferred) was conducted with 30 untrained tasters. The obtained results showed that cocoa mucilage influenced the physicochemical parameters of Brix content, pH, and acidity, unlike the yeast strains. The Arriba variety exhibited higher Brix (10 °Brix), pH (4.12), alcohol content (14% v/v), and better sensory acceptance (T4: Arriba with SafLager W-34/70), while the CCN51 variety showed better acidity (0.75%). It was also observed that combining the CCN51 variety with SafLager W-34/70 yeast proportionally increased the alcohol percentage (≈13–14% v/v). All treatments met the requirements of Ecuadorian Technical Standard INEN 374.