Alkalization, also known as “Dutching,” is an optional, but very useful, step taken in the production chain of cocoa to darken its color, modify its taste, and increase natural cocoa solubility. Over the years, various attempts have been made to design new and more effective alkalization methods. Moreover, different authors have attempted to elucidate the impact of alkalization on the physicochemical, nutritional, functional, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of alkalized cocoa. The aim of this review is to provide a clear guide about not only the conditions that can be applied to alkalize cocoa, but also the reported effects of alkalization on the nutritional, functional, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of cocoa. The first part of this review describes different cocoa alkalization systems and how they can be tuned to induce specific changes in cocoa properties. The second part is a holistic analysis of the effects of the alkalization process on different cocoa features, performed by emphasizing the biochemistry behind all these transformations.

中文翻译：

---

碱化过程引起的可可特性变化：综述

碱化，也称为“Dutching”，是可可生产链中的一个可选但非常有用的步骤，用于使可可颜色变深、改变其味道并增加可可的天然溶解度。多年来，人们进行了各种尝试以设计新的和更有效的碱化方法。此外，不同的作者试图阐明碱化对碱化可可的物理化学、营养、功能、微生物和感官特性的影响。本综述的目的不仅在于提供可用于碱化可可的条件的明确指南，而且还提供有关碱化对可可的营养、功能、微生物和感官特性的影响的报告。本综述的第一部分描述了不同的可可碱化系统以及如何调整它们以引起可可特性的特定变化。第二部分是对碱化过程对不同可可特性的影响的整体分析，通过强调所有这些转化背后的生物化学来进行。