Darin Sukha

UWI St. Augustine » Cocoa Research Centre

DSC_4052ds-mug_small Overview

Darin is a Research Fellow leading the CRC Flavour and Quality Section. Darin and his research team investigate aspects of cocoa fermentation and drying as well as, physical, chemical and organoleptic cocoa quality assessments.

Areas of expertise, interest/specialties

• Cocoa fermentation and drying

• Factors affecting flavour development in cocoa

• Physical, chemical and sensory assessments of quality in cocoa

• Sensory evaluation methods for foods

• Flavour profile characteristics of Forastero, Trinitario and Criollo cocoa germplasm

• Further processing of related cocoa products

• Reviewer: Journal of European Food Research and Technology, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture and Agricultural Science Research Journal.

• Consultant on several Fine Flavour projects, projects on cocoa rehabilitation, production and processing.

• Member of International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) ad hoc panel of experts on Fine or Flavour cocoa and various cocoa stakeholder committees.

Projects

• Technical co-ordinator of the “Project to assess the quality attributes of the Imperial College Selections”.

• Technical co-ordinator for the World Bank funded Development Marketplace project on: “Identification and promotion of ancient cacao diversity through modern genomics methods to benefit small-scale farmers”.

Selected Publications

Sukha, D.A.; Butler, D.R., Umaharan, P. and Boult, E. (2008). The use of an optimised assessment protocol to describe and quantify different flavour attributes of cocoa liquors made from Ghana and Trinitario beans. Journal of European Food Research and Technology 226 (3): 405-413. DOI. 10.1007/s00217-006-0551-2, Published online by Springer-Verlag 8 December 2006.