Open Agriculture 2022; 7: 847–856
Research Article
Dimas Rahadian Aji Muhammad*, Nanik Maya Marettama, Gusti Fauza,
Dian Rachmawanti Affandi
Can ingredients and information interventions
affect the hedonic level and (emo-sensory)
perceptions of the milk chocolate and cocoa
drink’s consumers?
https://doi.org/10.1515/opag-2022-0146
received August 21, 2022; accepted October 1, 2022
Abstract: To increase the competitiveness of chocolate
and cocoa drink on the market, innovation of the pro-
ducts is substantially required. Incorporation of addi-
tional ingredients, i.e., ginger and cinnamon, as well
giving information intervention on their health effect
may increase the consumer acceptance as well as advance
the consumer perception on the products. This study,
therefore, aims to determine the effect of additional ingre-
dient and intervention on health-related information on
the hedonic level, emo-sensory response and collative per-
ception of panelists on milk chocolate and cocoa drinks,
which were enriched with additional ingredients, i.e.,
ginger, cinnamon and stabilizers. This study used descrip-
tive quantitative method in which the data were obtained
from 40 panelists. Correspondence analysis was used to
see the emo-sensory profile and panelist perceptions that
were emerged from each sample. The results show that the
addition of spices to chocolate and cocoa drinks resulted
in a statistically significant decrease in the hedonic level.
However, the use of stabilizer significantly improved the
hedonic level of cocoa drink. The hedonic responses,
emotions and collative perceptions of the panelists were
influenced by the product information, particularly on the
products with the addition of spices.

* Corresponding author: Dimas Rahadian Aji Muhammad,
Department of Food Science and Tecnology, Faculty of Agriculture,
Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jl. Ir. Sutami 36A, Kentingan, Jebres,
Surakarta 57126, Indonesia, e-mail: dimasrahadian@staff.uns.ac.id
Nanik Maya Marettama, Gusti Fauza: Department of Food Science
and Tecnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jl.
Ir. Sutami 36A, Kentingan, Jebres, Surakarta 57126, Indonesia
Dian Rachmawanti Affandi: Department of Agricultural Product
Technology, Vocational School, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jl.
Kolonel Sutarto 150K, Jebres, Surakarta 57126, Indonesia
Open Access. © 2022 Dimas Rahadian Aji Muhammad et al., published by De Gruyter.
Attribution 4.0 International License.
Keywords: milk chocolate, cocoa drink, information
intervention, collative perception
1 Introduction
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a commodity with eco-
nomic significant in many countries. Indonesia is cur-
rently ranked 6th in the world’s largest cocoa producers
and thus one of the largest cocoas exporters. As such, in
2018, 2019 and 2020, cocoa production in Indonesia
reached 767,280, 734,796 and 713,378 tons, respectively
[1]. Nevertheless, there are several shortcomings in this
sector, including in the aspects of cocoa cultivation,
maintenance, harvest/post-harvest, processing and mar-
keting [2]. Milk chocolate and cocoa drink are the most
famous cocoa-derived products made from cocoa bean,
which is rich naturally in bioactive compounds serving as
natural antioxidants. Catechin, epicatechin, procyanidin
B1 and procyanidin B2 are some examples of active com-
pounds exhibiting antioxidant activity commonly found
in cocoa [3,4]. Basically, chocolate is formulated using
cocoa mass, cocoa butter, milk sugar and emulsifier,
while cocoa drink is produced from a mixture of cocoa
powder, sugar, stabilizer and water [5,6]. The market of
cocoa-derived products is so competitive, and therefore,
to increase the competitiveness of chocolate and cocoa
drink in the market, innovation of the products is sub-
stantially required.
To overcome this issue, some food industries and
scientist attempted to do product diversification, including
developing chocolate and cocoa drink with the enrichment
of probiotics, various herbs and spices as well as other
types of functional ingredients [5,7–10]. The reason of
the herb and spice fortification is to enhance the health-
promoting properties of the product. Many studies have
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
848  Dimas Rahadian Aji Muhammad et al.
shown that herbs and spices are rich in bioactive com-
pounds having various potential health benefits. As
such, cinnamon has been reposted to contain catechin,
epicatechin, quercitrin and protocatechuic acid [11,12].
Previous studies show that cinnamon and ginger are two
kinds of popular spice often added in cocoa-derived
products, particularly for improving the flavor charac-
teristic as well as health-promoting properties of the pro-
ducts [8,13]. In the product of cocoa drink, the additional
material normally added into the formula is stabilizer. The
stabilizer is required to enhance the suspension stability.
This is because cocoa powder in the cocoa drink system is
prone to sedimentation, and thus, the appearance of the
product is not good anymore, resulting in a decrease in
consumer acceptance [4,6,8].
In the product development, sensory aspect is highly
important particularly for obtaining a high consumer
acceptance [14]. Sensory aspect is a complex matter.
Sensory is not only related to the response of body to
the external stimuli, but sensory is also associated with
emotions – which are more subjective than other psycho-
logical reactions, fluctuating and linked to the recognition
of sensory signals [15]. Thus, food is a prominent source of
emotion in which by recognizing the emotional response
of consuming food, an emotional experience is obtained. It
entails a multisensory approach, namely the process of
understanding the way the senses evoke particular emo-
tional experiences [16]. It explains the consumer prefer-
ence toward products that bring positive emotions such as
joyful and peaceful. On the contrary, products that repre-
sent negative emotions such as anxiety and boredom tend
to be shunned by consumers [17]. As such, Muhammad
et al. [18] showed that a new type of chocolate namely
single-origin chocolate affected the emotion of consumer
meaning that different chocolate types elicited different
panelist emotion.
To the best of our knowledge, a study related to the
elicited emotions of chocolate and cocoa drink enriched
with spices has never been done. Furthermore, there is
also no study related to the elicited emotions and con-
sumer perception of cocoa drink enriched with stabilizer.
This is important because stabilizer on the one hand
improves the suspension stability of cocoa drink but on
the other hand may have a risk to health particularly for
human gastrointestinal system [19]. With regard to health
impact of food, either positive or negative, investigating the
effect of information intervention is substantial. According
to Chan et al. [20], for instance, providing simple infor-
mation related to health effect of a product is vital at the
point of sale of the product and even can be a potential
strategy for improving population diet. Furthermore, as
well stressed in the study of Oliveira et al. [21], providing
food information could become part of strategy to pro-
mote health.
Thus, the responses acquired from the panelists after
the evaluation of emo-sensory and collative perceptions
are used as a reference for the chocolate industry in
developing chocolate products with better and desired
attributes. However, only few studies discuss these
dimensions, despite the useful information that can
be gained from these dimensions to assess and analyze
the level of consumer acceptance of a product. This
study, therefore, aims to investigate the level of prefer-
ence, emo-sensory and perception of the panelists on
milk chocolate and cocoa drink-enriched additional
ingredients (i.e., spices and stabilizer) with and without
information intervention related to health.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Preparation of chocolate bars
The samples used in this study were milk chocolate bars,
which were previously in-house developed at Universitas
Sebelas Maret. Milk chocolate compound produced by PT
Freyabadi Indotama, Karawang (Indonesia), was used
to make the milk chocolate bar. Fine powder of ginger
and cinnamon was obtained from local market with a
brand name of Koepoe Koepoe (PT Gunacipta Multirasa,
Tangerang, Indonesia). Shortly, 500 g of the chocolate
was melted at a temperature of 40°C. The molten choco-
late was then mixed with 25 g of ginger powder or cin-
namon powder followed by a refining process using a
Cocoatown ECGC12SL melanger for 15 min. The chocolate
was molded and cooled at 8°C to have a solid chocolate.
After demolding, the chocolate containing ginger or cin-
namon powder was then packed using aluminum foil and
stored properly until used for analysis.
2.2 Preparation of cocoa drink
The cocoa drink samples were also prepared according
to an in-house developed method [14]. Materials used in
the preparation of cocoa drink samples included cocoa
powder containing fat of 10–12% (PT Frey Abadi Indo-
tama, Indonesia), refined sugar (PT Adi Karya Gemilang,
Lampung, Indonesia), nondairy creamer (PT Sari Inco-
food Corporation, Deli Serdang, Indonesia), corn starch
 Ingredients and information interventions in chocolate and cocoa drink  849

(PT Egafood, Jakarta, Indonesia) and salt (PT Susanti
Megah, Surabaya, Indonesia) were obtained from a local
market in Surakarta and xanthan gum were obtained
from UD Cipta Kimia (Surakarta, Indonesia). Briefly,
cocoa powder and refined sugar are homogenized using
an 80-mesh sieve. Afterwards, a basic cocoa mix was
made by mixing 7.5 g of cocoa powder (25%), 15 g of
refined sugar (50%), 6 g of nondairy creamer (20%),
1.47 g of corn starch (4.9%) and 0.03 g of salt (0.1%).
The cocoa mix with additional ingredients was made
by mixing 0.09 g of xanthan gum, 0.6 g of ginger powder
or 0.6 g of cinnamon powder. Into the cocoa mix, 200 mL
of water at 80°C was added, and then, the mixture was
stirred until well mixed. Finally, the cocoa drink was
kept in a plastic bottle and stored in the refrigerator at
5°C until further use.
panel preference. The schematic diagram of the test is
shown in Figure 1.
In the preference test, 40 panelists were involved.
The panelists used in this research were the university
students of Universitas Sebelas Maret with the age ranged
from 19 to 22 years old. About 65% of participants were
woman and the rest were man. All participants were in
a good health condition. The parameters used in the
test were appearance, aroma, texture, taste and overall
acceptance with a 7-point rating scale, from 1 (dislike
extremely) to 7 (like extremely). Emo-sensory and sensory
perception tests were also carried out. Emotional attributes
include happy, interested, relaxed, comfortable, satisfied,
strong, excited, disappointed, dissatisfied, sad, disgusted,
angry and bored. Perceptual or collative properties include
authentic/original, complex, familiar, simple, not original,
unusual and usual followed previous studies [18,22,23].

Informed consent: Informed consent has been obtained

2.3 Sensory analysis from all individuals included in this study.

Sensory evaluation through scoring method was performed
on the samples, namely three samples of milk chocolate
bars (control, ginger-milk chocolate, cinnamon-milk cho-
colate) and six samples of cocoa drink (cocoa drink control,
cocoa drink with cinnamon, cocoa drink with ginger, cocoa
drink control with stabilizer, cocoa drink with cinnamon
and stabilizer and cocoa drink with ginger and stabi-
lizer) to determine the level of preference based on the
Ethical approval: The sensory analysis involved human
as the panelist, and therefore, the ethical clearance was
applied. The research related to human use has been
complied with all the relevant national regulations, insti-
tutional policies and in accordance with the tenets of
the Helsinki Declaration, and has been approved by
the Health Research Ethics Committee of Dr. Moewardi
General Hospital (No. 558/IV/HREC/2022).

Comparave Comparave Comparave

study 1 study 2 study 3

Addive 1 Addive 2 Informaon

Cocoa Factors: Cinnamon Factors: Stabilizer Factors: Yes
drink powder, ginger & Control & No
powder & control
Cocoa derived
products

Addive 1 Informaon
Milk Factors: Cinnamon
chocolate Factors: Yes
bars powder, ginger & No
powder & control

Analysis:
x Hedonic level
x Emo-sensory profile
x Collave properes

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the research design.

850  Dimas Rahadian Aji Muhammad et al.
2.4 Research design
In the present study, a blind and informed test was car-
ried out. The following information was enclosed in the
sensory sheet for investigating the effect of the health
effect of ginger and cinnamon: “(1) cinnamon contains
antioxidant and is beneficial for health particularly due
to its ability as anti-tumour and anti-viral agents as well
as to help improving blood lipid profile and reducing
blood pressure; (2) ginger contains antioxidant and is
beneficial for health particularly improving digestion
system, increasing appetite and strengthening heart.”
Meanwhile, the following information was enclosed in
the sensory sheet for investigating the effect of the
health effect of stabilizer: “Stabilizer containing in this
cocoa drink may have an adverse effect particularly in
the digestion system if consumed in high portion.”
Identification of the effect of additional ingredients on
the sample was done using the Friedman test with a sig-
nificance level of 5% and Tukey post hoc test. Identification
of the effect of stabilizer or information intervention was
done using a non-parametric analysis by means of the
Mann–Whitney U test (IBM SPSS Statistics Version 25.0).
Analysis of emo-sensory and sensory perceptions was done
using the CATA (Check-All-That-Apply) method [23] with
the Cochran’s Q test and Correspondence analysis assisted
by using XLSTAT 2021 (Addinsoft, Paris, France).
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Hedonic response of consumers as
affected by additional ingredients and
information intervention
3.1.1 Effect of additional ingredients
Sensory characteristic is a highly important for deter-
mining product’s competitiveness in the market, including
Table 1: Panelists’ hedonic response of chocolate bars formulated with ginger and cinnamon
Chocolate sample Appearance Aroma
Choc. control 5.38 ± 0.71 b
5.15 ± 0.83 b
Choc. ginger 4.95 ± 0.78a 3.88 ± 1.04a
Choc. cinnamon 5.37 ± 0.67b 4.10 ± 1.03a
Samples are tested separately with score 1 – very dislike; 2 – dislike; 3 – slightly dislike; 4 – sightly like; 5 – like and 6 – very like.
Mean values with different superscript on the same column are significantly different at α = 0.05 level.
for newly developed cocoa-derived products such as
chocolate and cocoa drink. Appearance, aroma, taste
and texture are substantial attributes determining overall
acceptance. Briefly, appearance is the visual properties of
food including color, size, shape and surface texture.
Aroma is an odor caused by volatile compounds of the
food that is perceived by the sensory organ of the nasal
cavity through the olfactory system. Aroma is identified
when these volatile compounds enter the nose when
humans inhale them. Texture is a combination of several
physical properties of a food product that can be felt by the
senses of taste, touch and sight. Texture is the result of
tactile sense to stimuli when there is a contact between
oral cavity and foods [24].
These attributes can be the indicator whether a pro-
duct will be liked or not. Table 1 shows the effect of ginger
and cinnamon on the consumer acceptance of chocolate
bars. It is shown that the addition of these spices in cho-
colate formula could not increase the hedonic response of
consumer, and even in some cases, the addition signifi-
cantly decreased the product acceptability. As such, in
the attributes of aroma, the chocolate controls obtained a
hedonic response of 5.15 ± 0.83, while chocolate added
with ginger and cinnamon gained scores of 3.88 ± 1.04
and 4.10 ± 1.03, respectively. This also happened in the
parameter of taste, appearance and texture.
A decrease in consumer acceptance in the parameter
of appearance and texture was less pronounced than
those of aroma and taste. This can be understood because
spices are generally really strong in aroma and taste
and, thus, significantly influence the aroma and taste of
the enriched-product. For instance, cinnamon contains
volatile compounds such as cinnamaldehyde, limonene,
linalool, 4-terpineol and cinnamyl acetate as well as
nonvolatile compounds such as catechin, epicatechin,
procyanidin, quercitrin, 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, pro-
tocatechuic acid and cinnamic acid in which the presence
is able to significantly alter the aroma and taste of the
product [12,13]. Meanwhile, ginger has strong volatile
compounds due to sesquiterpene and monoterpene deri-
vatives [25]. As a result, the overall acceptance of spiced-
Texture Taste Overall
5.18 ± 0.68 b
5.43 ± 0.78 c
5.42 ± 0.71b
4.70 ± 0.85ab 3.32 ± 1.19a 3.88 ± 1.04a
4.68 ± 1.12a 4.30 ± 1.22b 4.30 ± 1.09a
 Ingredients and information interventions in chocolate and cocoa drink  851

chocolates was lower than control agreeing the previous
study of Ilmi et al. [26].
The similar phenomenon was also found in the
case of cocoa drink, which was supplemented with
ginger and cinnamon (Table 2). Significant decreases
of the hedonic level at the attribute of aroma and taste
were identified. The above explanation may be true
as well for the cocoa drink formulated with spices.
This means that the addition of ginger and cinnamon
at a concentration of 2% was strong enough to alter
the aroma and taste of the cocoa drink. It is perceptible
that the addition of spices to cocoa drink did not sig-
nificantly affect the consumer acceptance on the para-
meter of appearance. It is presumably because the
concentration of ginger and cinnamon powder is rela-
tively low, namely 2%; thus, the effect on appearance is
relatively unnoticeable.
Table 2 also shows that the addition of stabilizer
can really improve the consumers’ hedonic response
particularly in the attribute of appearance as hypothe-
sized. Previous studies have shown that stabilizer has
an ability to improve the viscosity of cocoa drink and
to form hydrocolloid network, which can significantly
improve the suspension stability of cocoa particles
and prevent sedimentation [4,6]. As a result, a better
appearance was attained and a higher hedonic level
was obtained. Interestingly, the ability of stabilizer
to improve the viscosity of cocoa drink may have
additional effect, which is improvement of consumer
acceptance in the attribute of texture. In the case of
cocoa drink formulated with ginger, for instance, it is
shown that the hedonic score of the drink without
stabilizer was 4.00 ± 0.93, while that of with stabilizer
was 4.58 ± 0.81.
3.1.2 Effect of information intervention
Generally, information given on a product greatly deter-
mines consumer preferences for this product [27]. In the
selection and determination of food products, customers
tend to consider particular factors based on their needs.
In this study, based on the results of the Mann–Whitney
U test with a significance level of 0.05, the information
given about health effect did not show any significant
difference between chocolate formulated with ginger
and the chocolate control particularly at the attributes
of appearance and texture. Meanwhile, in terms of
aroma, taste and overall attributes, the information
intervention on the product significantly affects the
acceptance (Table 3). Meanwhile, for the cinnamon-
enriched chocolate, the information intervention did
not have a significant effect on the customer acceptance
at all the examined attributes.
Table 4 shows that the effect of information interven-
tion on the hedonic level of the panelist to cocoa drink
product mostly had no significant effect. It is noted that
the information intervention positively affected the attri-
butes of aroma, texture and taste of cocoa drink formu-
lated with cinnamon and stabilizer, as well as aroma
of cocoa drink formulated with ginger and stabilizer. It
has been well-known that information intervention can
affect consumers’ hedonic response to food, including
the information of health effect of the food, in addition
to the information of organic, origin, brand, production
method, ethics and descriptive food names and ingredi-
ents [28]. However, in this study, most of responses
were not significantly influenced by information inter-
vention. It might be because ginger and cinnamon have
been already well-known as spices containing health-

Table 2: Panelists’ hedonic response of cocoa drinks formulated with ginger, cinnamon powder and stabilizer

Cocoa drink sample Appearance Aroma Texture Taste Overall

Cocoa drink control 4.37 ± 0.87aA 4.85 ± 0.66bA 4.58 ± 0.96bA 4.80 ± 1.04bA 4.65 ± 0.92bA
Cocoa drink cinnamon 4.08 ± 1.02aA 3.45 ± 1.09aA 4.08 ± 1.02ab
A
3.72 ± 1.15aA 3.70 ± 1.02aA
Cocoa drink ginger 4.10 ± 0.96aA 3.70 ± 1.02aA 4.00 ± 0.93aA 3.50 ± 1.20aA 3.78 ± 0.95aA
Cocoa drink control + stabilizer 5.03 ± 0.58Ba 4.95 ± 0.75bA 4.88 ± 0.76bA 5.12 ± 0.79bA 5.05 ± 0.78Bb
Cocoa drink cinnamon + stabilizer 4.70 ± 0.76Ba 4.65 ± 1.21aA 4.27 ± 0.88aA 3.38 ± 1.17aA 3.55 ± 0.96aA
Cocoa drink ginger + stabilizer 4.70 ± 0.88Ba 3.98 ± 0.97aA 4.58 ± 0.81Bab 3.65 ± 1.37aA 4.00 ± 0.99aA

Samples are tested separately with score 1 – very dislike; 2 – dislike; 3 – slightly dislike; 4 – sightly like; 5 – like and 6 – very like.
Mean values with different superscripts within the same column are significantly different (ρ = 0.05).
Mean values with different subscripts within the same column are significantly different between with and without the addition of stabilizer
at α = 0.05 level.
852  Dimas Rahadian Aji Muhammad et al.

Table 3: The effect of product information on hedonic response of chocolate bar formulated with ginger and cinnamon

Treatment Chocolate sample Appearance Aroma Texture Taste Overall

Blind Choc. control 5.38 ± 0.71

a
5.15 ± 0.83 a
5.18 ± 0.68a
5.43 ± 0.78a
5.43 ± 0.71a
Choc. ginger 4.95 ± 0.78a 3.88 ± 1.04a 4.70 ± 0.85a 3.32 ± 1.19a 3.88 ± 1.04a
Choc. cinnamon 5.38 ± 0.67a 4.10 ± 1.03a 4.68 ± 1.12a 4.30 ± 1.22a 4.30 ± 1.09a
Informed Choc. control 5.43 ± 0.55a 5.13 ± 0.85a 5.08 ± 0.69a 5.45 ± 0.75a 5.40 ± 0.67a
Choc. ginger 5.20 ± 0.65a 4.85 ± 0.83b 4.68 ± 0.76a 4.43 ± 0.98b 4.75 ± 0.67b
Choc. cinnamon 5.45 ± 0.64a 4.53 ± 1.09a 4.65 ± 0.89a 4.58 ± 0.98a 4.78 ± 0.83a

Samples are tested separately with score 1 – very dislike; 2 – dislike; 3 – slightly dislike; 4 – sightly like; 5 – like and 6 – very like.
Mean values with different superscripts between blind and informed treatment from each sample means there are effects provided from
product information at α = 0.05 level.

Table 4: The effect of product information on hedonic response of cocoa drinks formulated with ginger and cinnamon

Treatment Cocoa drink sample Appearance Aroma Texture Taste Overall

Blind Cocoa drink control 4.38 ± 0.87a

4.85 ± 0.66 a
4.58 ± 0.96 a
4.80 ± 1.04 a
4.65 ± 0.92a
Cocoa drink cinnamon 4.08 ± 1.02a 3.45 ± 1.09a 4.08 ± 1.02a 3.73 ± 1.15a 3.70 ± 1.02a
Cocoa drink ginger 4.10 ± 0.96a 4.33 ± 1.14a 4.00 ± 0.93a 3.50 ± 1.20a 3.78 ± 0.95a
Cocoa drink control + stabilizer 5.03 ± 0.58a 4.95 ± 0.75a 4.88 ± 0.76a 5.13 ± 0.79a 5.05 ± 0.78a
Cocoa drink cinnamon + stabilizer 4.70 ± 0.76a 3.65 ± 1.21a 4.28 ± 0.88a 3.38 ± 1.17a 3.55 ± 0.96a
Cocoa drink ginger + stabilizer 4.70 ± 0.88a 3.98 ± 0.97a 4.58 ± 0.81a 3.65 ± 1.37a 4.00 ± 0.99a
Informed Cocoa drink control 4.68 ± 0.80a 4.85 ± 0.89a 4.55 ± 0.93a 5.18 ± 0.96a 4.95 ± 0.75a
Cocoa drink cinnamon 4.38 ± 1.10a 4.28 ± 0.99b 4.08 ± 1.07a 3.93 ± 1.14a 4.03 ± 0.89a
Cocoa drink ginger 4.33 ± 1.14a 4.20 ± 1.02a 4.03 ± 1.03a 3.95 ± 1.28a 4.13 ± 1.07a
Cocoa drink control + stabilizer 4.98 ± 0.80a 4.95 ± 0.90a 4.93 ± 0.83a 5.18 ± 0.93a 5.13 ± 0.79a
Cocoa drink cinnamon + stabilizer 4.80 ± 0.76a 4.35 ± 0.98b 4.75 ± 1.03b 4.10 ± 1.22b 4.43 ± 0.96a
Cocoa drink ginger + stabilizer 4.93 ± 0.73a 4.58 ± 1.04b 4.70 ± 0.91a 4.53 ± 1.06a 4.63 ± 1.01a

Samples are tested separately with score 1 – very dislike; 2 – dislike; 3 – slightly dislike; 4 – sightly like; 5 – like and 6 – very like.
Mean values with different superscripts between Blind and Informed treatment from each sample means there are effects provided from
product information at α = 0.05 level.

promoting properties in the area where this study is
located. Using other ingredients that are not familiar to
the consumer may be interesting for the next research to
validate this hypothesis.
3.2 Emo-sensory profile of cocoa-derived
products as affected by additional
ingredients and information
intervention
3.2.1 Effect of additional ingredients
To identify the customer acceptance toward a product,
hedonic responses are perceived to be insufficient.
Therefore, emotional responses are commonly included
to provide information about customer acceptance as
they can describe more various points of view from
diverse customers [18,22]. Figure 2 shows that emotional
response of consumer to chocolate and cocoa drink was
significantly affected by the additional ingredients sup-
plemented to the original formula. As such, chocolate
control tends to have “pleased” and “pleasant” attributes.
Meanwhile, in the other quadrants, chocolate formulated
with ginger obtained “bored,” “disgusted,” “strong”
and “disappointed” responses from the consumers and
chocolate supplemented with cinnamon closely related
to “calm,” “fed up,” “satisfied,” attractive,” “angry” and
“enthusiastic.” Flavor compounds contained in the ginger
and cinnamon may significantly alter the sensory charac-
teristic of the chocolate, and thus, the emotional response
of the consumers to the chocolate also changed.
The supplementation of ginger and cinnamon also
altered the emotional response of the consumers to cocoa
drink in which the cocoa drink control, cocoa drink with
ginger and cocoa drink with cinnamon are in the three
different quadrants. The emotional response of the
 Ingredients and information interventions in chocolate and cocoa drink  853

(a) Symmetric plot (b) Symmetric plot

(axes F1 and F2: 100,00 %) (axes F1 and F2: 100,00 %)
1.5
2
1 bored disgusted
1.5
disappointed
strong 1
0.5 pleased strong
disappointed enthusiasc
F2 (23,24 %)

control

F2 (37,48 %)
ginger 0.5
0
pleasant ginger calm
0 0 pleased control
enthusiascdissasfied 0
aracve disgusteddissasfied pleasant
angry
-0.5 calm sasfied -0.5 aracve sasfied
cinnamon cinnamon bored
fed up
-1
-1
-1.5 sad
-3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
-1.5
F1 (62,52 %)
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
F1 (76,76 %)
Aributes Products Aributes Products

(c) Symmetric plot Symmetric plot

(axes F1 and F2: 81,15 %) (d) (axes F1 and F2: 76,97 %)
1 2
cinnamon
bored
0.5 ginger +stabilizer control
1.5
aracve fed up
dissasfied calm control+stabilizer
disappointedginger
enthusiasc sasfied 1
0 disappointed
+stabilizer
F2 (22,60 %)

F2 (20,86 %)

pleased cinnamon cinnamon pleased

pleasant 0.5
strong bored
-0.5 +stabilizer
aracve 0 pleasantcontrol
0 control+
cinnamon
disgusted
dissasfiedcalm
sasfied
-1
angry -0.5 ginger sad stabilizer
strong
ginger+
sad
-1.5 -1 stabilizer
enthusiasc
fed up
disgusted
-2 -1.5
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
F1 (58,54 %) F1 (56,11 %)

Aributes Products Aributes Products

Figure 2: Emo-sensory profile of chocolate bar without information intervention (a) and with information intervention (b) and cocoa drink
without information intervention (c) and with information intervention (d).

consumers to cocoa drink with ginger and cinnamon was of emotional response, there is no meaningful effect of
most likely similar to that to chocolate formulated with the stabilizer incorporation.
the spices. In general, ginger is likely to get “bored,”
“disgusted,” “strong” and “disappointed” responses,
while cinnamon is likely to get “fed up” and “angry” 3.2.2 Effect of information intervention
responses. This may be true as well when the spices
are applied in other food products. Figure 2 also illustrates the comparison between the
The addition of stabilizer in the cocoa drink did not emo-sensory profile of chocolate bar without information
significantly change the emotional response of the con- intervention (a) and with information intervention (b) as
sumer, except for the cocoa drink formulated with cin- well as cocoa drink without information intervention
namon. The combination of cinnamon and stabilizer (c) and with information intervention (d). By comparing
resulted in a similar quadrant with the cocoa drink for- Figure 2a and b, it is clear that, in both test conditions,
mulated with ginger and stabilizer. In the technological the chocolate samples were still spread in three different
point of a view, the addition of stabilizer can have sig- quadrants. The differences are spotted in the chocolate
nificant impact on the appearance of cocoa drink [4,6]. In control in which the sample obtained “enthusiastic” and
the previous section, the stabilizer also improved the “calm” responses. Meanwhile, the chocolate formulated
hedonic response of the consumers. However, in terms with cinnamon obtained “bored” and “sad” responses.
854  Dimas Rahadian Aji Muhammad et al.

In samples of cocoa drink, the information interven- 3.3 Collative properties of cocoa-derived
tion did not affect the emotional responses as well. As products as affected by additional
such, the cocoa drink control tends to have “pleased,” ingredients and information intervention
“pleasant” and “satisfied” properties, regardless the sta-
bilizer addition. Meanwhile, the cocoa drink with spices, 3.3.1 Effect of additional ingredients
which were tested with information intervention, still
obtained responses as similar to that without information In addition to the emotional responses that may arise
intervention such as “bored,” “disgusted,” “strong” and toward a product, the assessment of collative properties
“disappointed” responses. This finding is different with is required to identify the level of consumer acceptance,
the result obtained in the study of Oliveira et al. [29] which can be used as a reference in future product devel-
who is believe that information intervention has positive opment [30]. The correspondence analysis has been con-
effect on customer perceptions toward the sensory char- ducted, and the perception of collative properties of
acteristics, physical health and emotional aspects. The chocolate bars is presented in Figure 3. The dominant
unsignificant effect of information intervention in this collative properties of the chocolate control are “like
study might be because ginger and cinnamon have chocolate in general,” “familiar” and “common.” Mean-
been already familiar to the consumer. Thus, even before while, as expected, the chocolate formulated with spices
receiving information about the samples, the consumers is “not like chocolate in general,” “not authentic” and
already have knowledge background related to the func- “complex.” Interestingly, the properties of “authentic”
tional properties of the spices. and “simple” also exist implying that the ginger and

(a) Symmetric plot (b) Symmetric plot

(axes F1 and F2: 100,00 %) (axes F1 and F2: 100,00 %)
1.5 1.5

1 1
not like
chocolate
F2 (11,13 %)

F2 (15,95 %)

not like
0.5 0.5 in general ginger
chocolate ginger familiar
in general familiar like chocolate simple like chocolate
control control
in general in general
0 0
complex
authenc authenc
complex
-0.5 cinnamon common -0.5 cinnamon
common
simple
not authenc not authenc
-1 -1
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
F1 (88,87 %) F1 (84,05 %)

Aributes Products Aributes Products

Symmetric plot Symmetric plot

(c) (axes F1 and F2: 89,90 %) (d) (axes F1 and F2: 89,88 %)
1.5 1
cinnamon
1 0.5 +stabilizer ginger
not like
chocolate complex
simple authenc familiar
control
F2 (13,50 %)

complex
F2 (9,25 %)

control+ in general
0.5 cinnamon like chocolate 0 ginger+ like chocolate
not like ginger+ stabilizer control+in general
+stabilizer
chocolate
familiar in general stabilizer
ginger stabilizer stabilizer
0 in general -0.5 cinnamon common
not authenc
simple
authenc
-0.5 cinnamon control -1

common not authenc

-1 -1.5
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
F1 (76,41 %) F1 (80,63 %)

Aributes Products Aributes Products

Figure 3: Consumer’s collative perception of chocolate bar without information intervention (a) and with information intervention (b) and
cocoa drink without information intervention (c) and with information intervention (d).
 Ingredients and information interventions in chocolate and cocoa drink
cinnamon are already well known. In the cocoa drink
samples, a similar situation was found in which the domi-
nant collative properties of the cocoa drink control are
“like chocolate in general,” “familiar” and “common,”
regardless the addition of stabilizer. The properties of
“not like chocolate in general,” “not authentic,” “com-
plex,” “authentic” and “simple” also present in the cocoa
drink formulated with spices with or without stabilizer.
3.3.2 Effect of information intervention
Figure 3 also shows that without any information inter-
vention, the perception of collative properties of the sam-
ples is different from that under informed condition. Each
sample is located in different quadrants, indicating that
each sample has different characteristics based on cus-
tomer perception. Under blind condition, the dominant
collative properties of the chocolate control are “familiar”
and “common.” Meanwhile the dominant collative prop-
erties of the chocolate formulated with cinnamon are
“complex,” “authentic,” “simple” and “not original”;
and the chocolate formulated with ginger is perceived
to be “unusual” and “unlike other products.”
Under informed condition, the dominant collative
properties of the original chocolate are “simple” and
“authentic,” in addition to “familiar” and “usual.”
Meanwhile, the dominant collative properties of choco-
lates formulated with cinnamon or ginger are “complex”
and “not like chocolate in general.” These responses may
be due to the complex formula of the chocolates resulting
a more complex flavor. Also, correlating chocolate with
health may result in a complex situation according to
the consumer. In terms of cocoa drink, it is shown once
again that information intervention did not significantly
influence the perception of collative properties of the
products. Cocoa drink control regardless the stabilizer
addition has “familiar,” “common” and “like chocolate
in general” properties, while the cocoa drink formulated
with ginger or cinnamon has “like chocolate in general”
characteristic.
4 Conclusion
The present study concludes that the addition of ginger
and cinnamon in chocolate and cocoa drink formula could
not increase the hedonic response of consumer, and even
in some cases, the addition significantly decreased the
product acceptability. However, the addition of stabilizer
 855
in the cocoa drink formula had an advantageous effect on
the level of customer acceptance particularly on the attri-
butes of texture and appearance. The supplementation of
spices altered the emotional response and also collative
properties of the chocolate and cocoa drink, but the
incorporation of stabilizer in cocoa drink resulted in a
less-pronounced effect on both the emotional response
and also collative properties. In this study, information
intervention only resulted in a very limited effect that
may be because the consumers already have a strong
knowledge to the additional ingredients. Therefore,
further studies investigating the effect of familiarity
to material on the consumer acceptance, emotional
response and collative properties of the newly devel-
oped products may be interesting. The result obtained
from the study can be useful to design a strategy for
developing a new food product.
Funding information: This research is financially sup-
ported by Universitas Sebelas Maret within the scheme
of Hibah Penelitian Unggulan Terapan (No. 254/UN27.22/
PT.01.03/2022).
Author contributions: DRAM: conceptualization, funding
acquisition, supervision, writing – review and editing;
NMM: data curation, investigation, formal analysis,
writing – original draft; GF: formal analysis, resources,
validation, funding acquisition; DRA: validation, writing –
review and editing, funding acquisition
Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of
interest.
Data availability statement: The datasets generated during
and/or analyzed during the current study are available
from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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