Abstract

Cocoa production is economically significant in Ecuador but large quantities of waste are generated during the industrialization process. The aim of this study is to improve the quality parameters of cooking oils using polyphenols extracted from cocoa bean shell. A 32 factorial design was used in the determination of optimal conditions for the use of polyphenols as antioxidant for the oils. The polyphenol concentration added to the oil (0%, 0.02%, and 0.04%) and the times of repeated use (0, 10 and 20 times) were consider as factors and free fatty acids, peroxide index, clarity, and DPPH antioxidant activity were selected as the dependent variables. Response surface method was applied for optimization. The required concentration for stabilized cooking oil was 0.01 % with a desirability value of 97.59 %. These results are novel and prove the usefulness of cocoa waste as a source of antioxidants.

Key words: cocoa shell, DPPH, Folin-Ciocalteu, free fatty acids, peroxide value.