Significant potential of tape yeast and plant leaves as a cover for fermented cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) beans to generate qualities of dry cocoa beans

The purpose of this study was to determine the response to the addition of tape yeast and various cover leaves in the fermentation process of quality cocoa beans (Theobroma cacao L.) according to the Indonesian National Standard (SNI). This research was conducted at PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) XII, Ngrangkah Pawon plantation, Kediri Regency and Laboratory of Agrotechnology, Universitas Darussalam Gontor in April-August 2020. The research design used a factorial completely randomized design (CRD). The first factor was the addition of tape yeast (R) which consisted of 5 levels, namely: no yeast (R0), the addition of 0.5% tape yeast (R1), 1.0% (R2), 1.5% (R3), and 2.0% (R4). The second factor was plant leaves (D) which consisted of 5 levels, namely: D1 (banana leaves), D2 (teak leaves), D3 (taro leaves), D4 (papaya leaves) and D5 (bamboo leaves). Observation parameters included fermentation temperature of cocoa beans, pulp acidity (pH) of cocoa beans, the account of cocoa beans per 100 g, moisture content, sugar content, cut test and, phytochemical qualitative test. Observation data were analyzed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and further tested with LSD 5%. The addition of tape yeast and plant leaves as a cover for fermented cocoa beans improved the quality of the dry cocoa beans. There was no interaction between the addition of tape yeast and plant leaves as a cover for fermented cocoa beans in all observations of the quality of dry cocoa beans. The addition of 1% tape yeast improved the quality of fermented cocoa beans on the parameters of fermentation temperature on day 2 (43.2℃), the account of cocoa beans per 100 g (93.8 cocoa beans), sugar content (2.8°Bx) and brown seed color (99.2%). Teak leaves, taro leaves, papaya leaves and bamboo leaves can be used as a cover for fermenting cocoa beans such as banana leaves which are commonly used by farmers.