Sensory profile of genotypes of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) in the parish of Valle Hermoso-Ecuador

The research was focused on the analysis of the sensory profile of different genotypes of fine-flavor cocoa of the parish of “Valle Hermoso” in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas. A completely randomized design with three replications was used. Fermented and dried beans were toasted and liquor was extracted to evaluate through tasting panels the following variables: basic flavors, specific, and acquired. Organoleptic variables data was subjected to the Kruskal Wallis technique at 5% of error probability, a cluster (dendrogram) and a principal component analysis (PCA) were carried out. The sensorial analysis was performed by a tasting panel of the State Technical University of Quevedo (UTEQ) and the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP), liquors were rated on a scale from 0 to 10 points, with zero representing no taste and ten the maximum intensity. The final results determined that treatments with sensorial characteristics “Arriba” in their specific flavors were: UTE-VH-5241 showed the highest intensity for floral, fruity and beans flavor; while UTE-VH-6405 and