Cocoa bean shells (CBS) are one of the main by-products from the transformation of cocoa beans, representing 10%‒17% of the total cocoa bean weight. Hence, their disposal could lead to environmental and economic issues. As CBS could be a source of nutrients and interesting compounds, such as fiber (around 50% w/w), cocoa volatile compounds, proteins, minerals, vitamins, and a large spectrum of polyphenols, CBS may be a valuable ingredient/additive for innovative and functional foods. In fact, the valorization of food by-products within the frame of a circular economy is becoming crucial due to economic and environmental reasons. The aim of this review is to look over the chemical and nutritional composition of CBS and to revise the several uses that have been proposed in order to valorize this by-product for food, livestock feed, or industrial usages, but also for different medical applications. A special focus will be directed to studies that have reported the biofunctional potential of CBS for human health, such as antibacterial, antiviral, anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, or neuroprotective activities, benefits for the cardiovascular system, or an anti-inflammatory capacity.

One of the main by-products in cocoa industry is the cocoa bean shell (CBS), which represents approximately 12–20% of the bean. This product has been suggested as a food ingredient because of its aroma and high dietary fiber and polyphenol contents. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effects of the CBS particle size and extraction methods on the chemical composition and consumer acceptance of a functional beverage, in order to find the best combination of technological parameters and health benefits. Five particle sizes of CBS powder and six home techniques were used for beverage preparation. The influence of these factors on the physico-chemical characteristics, methylxanthine and polyphenolic contents, antioxidant and antidiabetic properties, and consumer acceptance was evaluated. Total phenolic content values up to 1803.83 mg GAE/L were obtained for the beverages. Phenolic compounds and methylxanthines were identified and quantified by HPLC-PDA. These compounds may be related to the high antioxidant capacity (up to 7.29 mmol TE/L) and antidiabetic properties (up to 52.0% of α-glucosidase inhibition) observed. Furthermore, the consumer acceptance results indicated that CBS may represent an interesting ingredient for new functional beverages with potential health benefits, reducing the environmental and economic impact of by-product disposal.

The cocoa bean shell (CBS), a cocoa by-product, contains a significant number of bioactive compounds with functional properties, such as polyphenols and methylxanthines, and is used as an ingredient in beverages and foods. In this work, the bioaccessibility of polyphenols and methylxanthines after In Vitro digestion was evaluated in new flavoured beverages for at-home consumption (capsules and tea bags). In addition, the polyphenolic composition, functional properties (antiradical and α-glucosidase inhibition capacities) and consumer acceptability of these beverages were evaluated. In both capsule and tea bag beverages, the bioaccessibility of methylxanthines was 100% while that of total polyphenols exceeded 50%. The main polyphenols determined using reverse-phase liquid chromatography were type B procyanidins and epicatechin. The antiradical activity in capsule and tea bag beverages was 1.75 and 1.88 mM of Trolox equivalents, respectively, of which 59.50% and 57.09% were recovered after simulated digestion. The percentage of α-glucosidase inhibition before In Vitro digestion (51.64% and 53.82% for capsules and tea bags, respectively) was comparable to that of acarbose at 0.5 mM. All the beverages obtained a high consumer acceptability. Therefore, these results highlight that CBSs can be used as a valid source of bioactive compounds in the preparation of beverages with homemade techniques.

The cocoa bean shell (CBS), a by-product of the cocoa industry, has been reported to be rich in fiber and polyphenols, which could contribute to reducing the metabolism of sugars and glucose adsorption. The production of CBS-based biscuits in which sucrose is replaced with tagatose (a low-glycemic sugar with prebiotic properties), benefiting diabetic consumers, is proposed. Six prototype biscuits were produced using sucrose, tagatose, and CBS powder at 0%, 10%, and 20% as a wheat flour replacement. Biscuits were studied in terms of fiber content, and those with 10% and 20% CBS showed to contain 5.66% and 8.70–8.71% of total dietary fiber, respectively. Moreover, the physicochemical and structural properties of the biscuits were studied to evaluate their differences due to the use of sucrose and tagatose combined with CBS. Significant effects mainly caused by the reducing nature and lower solubility of tagatose with respect to sugar, and the water retention capacities of CBS were observed. Finally, the biscuits were evaluated by performing a consumer acceptance evaluation, and their perceptible sensorial differences were studied by performing a Napping^® sensory characterization. CBS-based biscuits represent an interesting possibility for cocoa by-product revalorization, although an optimized recipe is recommended, especially when employing tagatose.

The cocoa bean shell (CBS) is one of the main cocoa byproducts with a prospective to be used as a functional food ingredient due to its nutritional and sensory properties. This study aims to define the chemical fingerprint of CBSs obtained from cocoa beans of diverse cultivars and collected in different geographical areas of Venezuela assessed using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to photodiodes array and mass spectrometry (HPLC-PDA-MS/MS) and spectrophotometric assays combined with multivariate analysis for classification purposes. The study provides a comprehensive fingerprint and quantitative data for 39 compounds, including methylxanthines and several polyphenols, such as flavan-3-ols, procyanidins, and N-phenylpropenoyl amino acids. Several key cocoa markers, such as theobromine, epicatechin, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, procyanidin_A pentoside_3, and N-coumaroyl-l-aspartate_2, were found suitable for the classification of CBS according to their cultivar and origin. Despite the screening methods required a previous purification of the sample, both methodologies appear to be suitable for the classification of CBS with a high correlation between datasets. Finally, preliminary findings on the identification of potential contributors for the radical scavenging activity of CBS were also accomplished to support the valorization of this byproduct as a bioactive ingredient in the production of functional foods.