Microencapsulation of Phenolic Extracts from Cocoa Shells to Enrich Chocolate Bars

Cocoa bean shells were subjected to green extraction technologies, based on the absence of toxic organic solvents, to recover polyphenols; the extract was then encapsulated using a spray dryer and maltodextrin as coating agent. The best conditions observed in the spray drying tests (core-to-coating ratio 1:5; inlet temperature 150 °C; flow rate 6 ml min(−1)) were applied to produce the microcapsules used to enrich the same cocoa mass as the shells and processed for the preparation of the chocolate bars. Sensory analysis showed no significant differences between enriched chocolate bar and the unenriched reference one, except for the appearance. Both samples were then subjected to accelerated storage tests, at the end of which the polyphenols in the control chocolate bar (0.85 g 100 g(−1)) were reduced by about 50% (0.42 g 100 g(−1)), while in the enriched chocolate (1.17 g 100 g(−1)) by only 22% (0.97 g 100 g(−1)). The proposed process significantly enriched the chocolate bars with phenolic antioxidants recovered from cocoa waste without increasing the sensations of bitterness and astringency.