It started with a search for a better source.
01 / EXTRACT
Can we actually recover it?
Having protein in a material is one thing. Being able to recover it is another.
We dried cacao bean shells and extracted their soluble components under controlled laboratory conditions. The recovered fraction was then separated and freeze-dried for further testing.
Under our experimental conditions, cacao bean shells produced approximately 0.18 g of extract per gram of raw material.
02 / MEASURE
How protein-rich is it?
Next, we measured the protein-equivalent content of the recovered cacao extract using a BSA-based colorimetric assay.
The cacao extract reached approximately:
530 mg BSA eq./g extract
This was 1.6× higher than the coffee-ground reference tested under the same conditions.
CACAO BEAN SHELL ██████████████ 530
COFFEE GROUNDS ██████ 330
Protein-equivalent content, mg BSA eq./g extract
03 / LOOK BEYOND PROTEIN
What else is in the extract?
Protein was only part of what we found.
The cacao-derived fraction also showed antioxidant activity across two independent assays and contained several measured minerals, including magnesium, calcium, copper, and iron.
04 / CHARACTERIZE
What are we actually working with?
We continued testing the cacao extract to better understand its composition.
Using HPLC, ICP-OES, FT-IR, UV–Vis, and antioxidant assays, we examined lactose, selected minerals, chemical changes during extraction, and functional characteristics.
No lactose was detected in the cacao extract under our analytical conditions.
FROM FINDING TO FOOD
Our research didn't begin with a finished product.
It began with a material that seemed worth a closer look.
The laboratory results showed that cacao bean shells could provide
a recoverable, protein-rich functional fraction
with characteristics worth developing further.