What is roasting?
By roasting, humidity is lowered down to 2 or 3% and flavors start developing through the Maillard reaction. The aroma of roasted cacao is made of a combination of compounds resulting from fermentation and not involved in roasting, compounds resulting from fermentation and increased by roasting, and finally new compounds which are developed during roasting. Generally speaking, during the roasting process of fermented cacao beans quite all reducing sugars and 40% of free amino acids are consumed.
