Cocoa butter alternative fats

The main current potential application of lipase-catalyzed fat-modification processes is in the production of valuable confectionery fats for instance, alternative methods of obtaining cocoa-butter equivalents by converting cheap palm-oil fats and stearic acid to cocoa-butter-like fats. The reaction is executed in a water-poor medium, such as hexane, to prevent hydrolysis. At least one commercial apphcation exists. Loders Croklaan (Unilever) has an enzymatic interesterification plant in Wormerveer, the Netherlands. Many other new potential applications of lipases have been proposed of which some will certainly be economically feasible. Examples and details can be found in chapter 9 of this book. 

The non-cocoa fats used in confectionery are mixtures known as cocoa butter alternatives (CBAs), of which the most important are cocoa butter equivalents (CBEs). These are formulated from non-hydrogenated fat fractions with a tri-acylglycerol composition almost identical with cocoa butter and which are miscible with cocoa butter in all proportions. Other alternative fats such as cocoa butter replacers (CBRs) and cocoa butter substitutes (CBSs) are used, particularly in the manufacture of specialized forms of chocolate application such as coatings. 

Chem. Descrip. Hydrogenated and fractionated non-lauric fats and oils Uses Cocoa butter alternative for coatings on cakes Features Good gloss and bloom stability flexible Cebes 21 -20 [Aarhus Oliefabrik A/S]... 

Similar to cocoa butter replacers but generally based on coconut and palm kernel oils. See also cocoa butter alternatives, cocoa butter and confectionery fat. 

Stearic acid is a long chain SFA present, to varying degrees, in virtually all edible fats and oils. Table IV provides the fatty acid composition of fats and oils commonly consumed by humans. The most abundant food sources of stearic acid in the American diet are beef fat and cocoa butter (chocolate). Cocoa butter is valued by chocolate manufacturers because it remains solid at room temperature but dissolves quickly at body temperature, a unique characteristic of chocolate that is due largely to stearic acid. During the last few decades as cocoa butter prices and supplies have fluctuated, food companies began looking for alternative oils that could provide equivalent amounts of stearic acid in order to retain the desirable physical characteristics. Several... 

M. Lipp, E. Anklam, Review of cocoa butter and alternative fats for use in chocolate. Part A. Compositional data, Food chem. 62 (1998) 73-97. 

Alternative vegetable fat formulations intended legitimately to replace a small proportion of the cocoa butter in chocolate are difficult to distinguish from... 

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) can be used as a rapid alternative to differential scanning calorimetry in the determination of the solid fat content and studies on the melting behaviour. The determination is based on detection of the different populations of protons in solid and liquid phases, which indicates the hardness of the fat. Hernandez and Rutledge (1994b) used low resolution pulse NMR to compare melting curves of roasted and non-roasted cocoa butters from Africa, Indonesia and South America. Discriminant analysis techniques showed... 

Identification of cocoa butter and alternative fats in chocolate Moisture and fat determination to monitor drying and coating processes of exudates... 

Increases in the price of cocoa butter have led to a search for alternative fats for use in manufacturing chocolate. Biino and Carlisi suggested determining illipe butter in cocoa butter blends by measuring the sigmasterol/campesterol ratio and the POS/POP and SOS/POP triglyceride ratios. 

Food industries are looking for alternative fats to cocoa butter (CB) from natural matrices that are denoted as cocoa butter replacers (CBRs), cocoa butter equivalents (CBEs) and cocoa butter substitutes (CBSs) fat [41 83], CBRs are defined as non-lauric fats that could replace cocoa butter either partially or completely in the chocolate or other food products. On the other hand, a cocoa butter equivalent (CBE) is a type of fat that has a very similar chemical composition, but its triglycerides derive from other source than cocoa beans, such as palm kernel oil, palm oil, mango seed fat, kokum butter, sal fat, shea butter, illipe butter, soya oil, rape seed oil, cotton oil, ground nut oil and coconut oil [43]. 

Jahmnl, MHA Zaidul, ISM Norulaini, NAN Sahena, F Jinap, S Azmir, J et al. Cocoa butter fats and possibilities of substitution in food products concerning cocoa varieties, alternative som-ces, extraction methods, composition, and characteristics. J... 

Hard fat, the alternative for cocoa butter, is less sensitive to rancidity and shows substantially less modificatirMis. 

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