Study of the structural properties of goat's milk chocolates with different concentrations of cocoa mass.
de Jesus Silva G, Gonçalves BRF, de Jesus JC, Vidigal MCTR, Minim LA, Ferreira SO, Bonomo RCF, Ferrão SPB.
J Texture Stud. 2019 Jul 5. doi: 10.1111/jtxs.12463.

Effects of Fat Polymorphic Transformation and Nonfat Particle Size Distribution on the Surface Changes of Untempered Model Chocolate, Based on Solid Cocoa Mass.
Zhao H, Young AK, James BJ.
J Food Sci. 2018 Apr;83(4):998-1004. doi: 10.1111/1750-3841.14108.

Cocoa particles for food emulsion stabilisation.
Gould J, Vieira J, Wolf B.
Food Funct. 2013 Sep;4(9):1369-75. doi: 10.1039/c3fo30181h.

In vitro Antioxidant Activity and Profile of Polyphenol Compounds Extracts and their Fractions on Cacao Beans.
Indiarto R, Pranoto Y, Santoso U, Supriyanto.
Pak J Biol Sci. 2019 Jan;22(1):34-44. doi: 10.3923/pjbs.2019.34.44.

Fast Discrimination of Chocolate Quality Based on Average-Mass-Spectra Fingerprints of Cocoa Polyphenols.
Fayeulle N, Meudec E, Boulet JC, Vallverdu-Queralt A, Hue C, Boulanger R, Cheynier V, Sommerer N.
J Agric Food Chem. 2019 Mar 6;67(9):2723-2731. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.8b06456.

Safety

Dietary exposure assessment of aluminium and cadmium from cocoa in relation to cocoa origin.
Fechner C, Greiner M, Heseker H, Lindtner O.
PLoS One. 2019 Jun 5;14(6):e0217990. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217990.

The Cocoa paste is the first raw product obtained from the complex processing of cocoa, after the mixing process

To the taste, the cocoa mass is very bitter and to the aspect it is greasy.Two fundamental reasons for which we will need subsequent work of a certain complexity.

It is used in the food field as the first ingredient in the preparation of chocolate, biscuits, cakes and more.

This is an enlarged cocoa bean:

Let's summarize the cocoa processing:

1 - Collection of cocoa pods. Still done by hand, as not to damage the trees.

2 - The cocoa pods are peeled and the beans dried in the sun for 8 days in order to reach fermentation.

3 - Drying of the beans

Mixing

4 - Picking, Cleaning and Roasting the beans

5 - Fanning the beans with industrial machinery

Cocoa mass

6 - Grinding the beans with a milling machine

7 - Refining the beans with roll refiners

At this point the cocoa butter can be separated

8 - Rolling process that creates heat for melting the cocoa mass. 

From this point on, every manufacturer can add any product to personalize the chocolate. For example liqueurs, spices, etc.

The most relevant studies on this ingredient have been selected with a summary of their contents:

Cocoa mass studies

As for the positive properties, from a health point of view, cocoa beans contain a significant amount of antioxidants: flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, catechins, epicatechins and in particular a phytosterol, beta-sitosterol to which are attributed protective actions on the development of cancer.

This study warns about the risk of high chocolate intake, which is positively associated with the risk of prostate cancer as total, advanced, localized and low-grade disease. However, the authors also pointed out that although high intake of antioxidants from supplements was associated with an increased risk for all prostate cancer subgroups except fatal cancer, this finding must be interpreted with caution because of the possibility of reverse causality (1). Which, if we interpret the study correctly, means that small amounts of cocoa have anti-inflammatory activity in our bodies, whereas excessive amounts may cause an adverse effect.

References____________________________________________________________________

(1) Russnes KM, Möller E, Wilson KM, Carlsen M, Blomhoff R, Smeland S, Adami HO, Grönberg H, Mucci LA, Bälter K. Total antioxidant intake and prostate cancer in the Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS) study. A case control study. BMC Cancer. 2016 Jul 11;16:438. doi: 10.1186/s12885-016-2486-8.