# Molecular Changes during Germination of Cocoa Beans, Part 2

## TL;DR

This study identifies specific chemical changes in cocoa beans during germination, helping to distinguish germinated from non-germinated samples.

## Contribution

The paper introduces new HMG gluc isomers as key indicators for cocoa germination processes.

## Key findings

- 12-hydroxyjasmonic acid sulfate, (+)-catechin, and (−)-epicatechin are significantly downregulated during germination.
- HMG gluc A and B derivatives are upregulated and serve as key process indicators.
- Models using clustering and classification can accurately identify germinated cocoa samples.

## Abstract

A recently published untargeted metabolomics approach
toward marker
compounds of cocoa germination revealed and identified 12-hydroxyjasmonic
acid sulfate, (+)-catechin, and (−)-epicatechin as the most
downregulated compounds and two hydroxymethylglutaryl glucosides (HMG
gluc) A and B, among others, as the decisive upregulated compounds
in the germinated material. These findings were quantitatively evaluated
using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass
spectrometry not only in previously examined sample material but also
in a vastly expanded array of cocoa samples of different provenience
and process and in cocoa products such as cocoa liquor and chocolate.
Hereby, yields of newly identified HMG gluc derivatives could be determined
in raw, fermented, germinated, and alternatively processed cocoa,
and isomers of HMG gluc A and B could be established as key process
indicators. Based on unsupervised clustering and supervised classification,
models could identify germinated samples in testing sets consisting
of raw, fermented, and germinated samples.