The measurement of pH and analyses of sugar, ethanol, glycerol,
mannitol and organic acid concentrations were determined on cocoa
pulp and nib fractions according to the methods described by Ho et al.
(2014). pH was determined with a pH meter on water extracts of pulp
and nib fractions obtained from samples of 10 randomly selected
whole cocoa beans. The concentrations of sugars, ethanol, glycerol,
mannitol and organic acids were analyzed using a high performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC) system of Shimadzu with refractive index
and photodiode array detectors connected to a Rezex ion-exclusion
ROA column (Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA). The concentrations of
individual analytes were determined by comparison with curves
constructed from standard solutions of each compound. Analyses of
samples were done in duplicate and average values are reported. We
have expressed our data for sugar and ethanol concentrations on a
wet weight basis and data for organic acids on a dry weight basis to
facilitate comparisons with the literature.