Characteristic of Chocolate Candy Produced from Fermented Cocoa Bean with Lactobacillus plantarum HL-15 Starter Culture for Inhibition Growth of Mycotoxin -Producing Fungi

Abstract

Chocolate candy is a snack product that is liked by many people. The presence of mycotoxin producing fungi is a problem in chocolate product. The objective of this research was to observe the characteristic of chocolate candy which is produced from fermented cocoa bean with Lactobacillus plantarum HL-15 starter culture. The cocoa bean (47.5 kg) is fermented by adding L. plantarum HL-15 culture about 500 mL (10 CFU/mL) in the new and old fermentation box and in another new and old fermentation box without adding culture. Chocolate candy processing is done based on standard processing of chocolate candy. The results showed that the addition of L. plantarum HL-15 culture in cocoa bean fermentation and use of the new fermentation box give lower fungi concentration on chocolate candy, reducing 1 log cycle from 1.7 × 10 to < 10 colony/g, while the addition of L. plantarum HL-15 culture in the old fermentation box is not effect. The average aw value of chocolate candy is 0.64 and pH value is 6.7. Fat content of chocolate candy is about 44.9%-46.2%.