# Evaluating the Quality of Raw Chocolate as an Alternative to Commercial Products
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Chemical Composition and Visual Assessment
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Sample** & **Moisture** & **Ash** & **Fat** & **Carbohydrates** & **Dietary Fibre** & **Proteins** & **Energy Value** \\  & **(\%)** & **(\%)** & **(\%)** & **(\%)** & **(\%)** & **(\%)** & **(\%)** & **(kJ/kcal)** \\ \hline COM 50\% & 0.6 b  & 1.7 b  & 28.0 d  & 53.7 a  & 9.8 d  & 6.2 c  & 2054/491 \\ \hline COM 64\% & 0.5 b  & 1.6 b  & 32.0 c  & 42.7 b  & 14.0 c  & 9.1 b  & 2065/494 \\ \hline MAN & 0.3 b  & 1.6 b  & 33.4 b  & 39.6 c  & 15.8 b  & 9.3 b  & 2067/495 \\ \hline Cocoa beans & 4.3 a  & 2.6 a  & 45.1 a  & 6.8 d  & 26.3 a  & 15 a  & 2038/488 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Nutritional composition of raw chocolate, commercial chocolates and cocoa beans. Figure 2: Bar of raw chocolate: (**A**)—view from above, (**B**)—view from the front. amounts of 5 and 7%, and calorific values 530 and 518 kcal. [PERSON] et al. [38] demonstrated that 70% dark chocolate % had the following composition: carbohydrate amounts of 45%, fat amounts of 41%, protein amounts of 8-9%, and soluble dietary fibre amounts of 5%. Cocoa butter is the component of chocolate that has the highest calorific value. It contains approximately 34% (33.3-40.2%) stearic acid (saturated acid), 34% (26.3-35.2%) oleic acid (monoussaturated acid), and 27% (25.2-33.7%) palmitic acid (saturated acid) [37, 39]. Stearic acid has only a small effect on the level of cholesterol. Oleic acid may have a reducing effect on cholesterol levels, or it can be neutral in this respect. Palmitic acid, in turn, displays a moderate tendency towards elevating the level of cholesterol. The remaining part of cocoa butter is composed of unsaturated fatty acids [7]. Chocolate also contains minerals in its composition, especially potassium, magnesium, copper, and iron [13, 40, 41]. While the majority of carbohydrates in chocolate originate from saccharose, there are also small amounts of various carbohydrates in the dietary fibre contained in cocoa. Carbohydrate types and amounts are important because they affect the glycaemic index. Because the presence of lipids in food slows carbohydrate absorption, a high fat content in chocolate causes a slower rise in blood sugar levels, resulting in a lower glycaemic index [7]. Table 3 presents the total content of polyphenols and the total content of flavonoids in the produced raw chocolate and in the commercial chocolates as compared to the content of those components in the non-roasted beans of the cocoa tree. The highest total phenolic content and total flavonoid content were noted in cocoa beans (27.82 mg GAE/g and 12.22 mg ECE/g, respectively). The raw chocolate produced in the experiment was characterised by significantly higher total phenolic and flavonoid contents (22.08 mg GAE/g and 8.75 mg ECE/g, respectively) in comparison to the commercial chocolates, which were characterised by a ca. 2.8-fold lower (COM 50%) and 2.4-fold lower (COM 64%) content of polyphenols and an ca. 2.3-fold lower (COM 50%) and ca. 2-fold lower (COM 64%) content of flavonoids. The literature data indicate that non-roasted cocoa beans from Ecuador had a total phenolic content of 25.42 mg GAE/g, while the corresponding value for roasted cocoa beans was 22.92 mg GAE/g. The total phenolic content in various cocoa beans varied in the range from 9.96 mg GAE/g to 37.81 mg GAE/g and depended on the cultivar, place of origin, and method of treatment or processing (roasting). The cited authors indicated that a majority of the chocolates tested in the described experiment were characterised by a higher level of polyphenols in the chocolates (within the range of 9.10 mg GAE/g to 40.55 mg GAE/g) relative to the phenolic content in the respective cocoa beans from which the chocolates were produced [18]. [PERSON] et al. [42], in a study on the mass of milk chocolates based on cocoa mass obtained from non-roasted cocoa beans from Peru, noted a total phenolic content ranging from about 15.25 mg GAE/g to approximately 16.85 mg GAE/g.