Effect of cocoa butter equivalent on cocoa butter crystallization behavior and on dark chocolate

Thais Lomonaco Teodoro Da Silva,Renato Grimaldi,Lireny Aparecida Guaraldo Gonçalves

doi:10.3895/rebrapa.v10n1.10699

Thais Lomonaco Teodoro Da Silva, Renato Grimaldi + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3895/rebrapa.v10n1.10699

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Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the crystallization behavior of commercial cocoa butter (CB) and cocoa butter equivalents (CBE) and their mixtures to assess the best proportions that do not compromises the crystallization process in chocolates. Blends were prepared using CBE concentrations of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 37.5% and were evaluated by: fatty acids composition, triacylglycerols (TAG) composition, solid fat content, isothermal analysis, polarized light microscopy, thermal behavior, X-ray diffraction and consistency. The higher amount of CBE in a blend without compromising the CB crystallization were further applied in a dark chocolate. CBE presented a similar fatty acids composition as CB in the same proportions, but the TAGs of the CBE presented more TAG StOSt, imparting fast crystallization, a higher SFC content and a higher hardness. Even with full compatibility between CB and CBE, the CBE proportion in ratios of CB/CBE must be restricted because higher concentrations of this fat are not allowed by the regulations of many countries and can lead to a final product with a waxy feel due to the higher melting point of CBE TAGs. The dark chocolate with CBE/CB (20/80) did not present any physical (snap, microestructure and polymorphism) difference from the regular chocolate pure in CB.

Highlights

Cocoa butter is solid at room temperature (25 °C) and melts at body temperature (37 °C), with a melting range between 27 and 35 °C
These values are in agreement with others found in the literature for cocoa butter (CB) (SABARIAH; ALI; CHONG, 1998; LIPP et al, 2001; QUAST et al, 2013; MASUCHI; GRIMALDI; KIECKBUSCH, 2014) and cocoa butter equivalents (CBE) (LIPP et al, 2001; TORBICA et al, 2015; DE CLERCQ et al, 2017)
The smaller differences between CB and CBE resulted in smaller differences in fatty acid blends, and all values had intermediate P, St and O contents between CB and CBE (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Cocoa butter is solid at room temperature (25 °C) and melts at body temperature (37 °C), with a melting range between 27 and 35 °C. The major fatty acids are palmitic (P), stearic (St), and oleic (O) acid, The physical and chemical properties of cocoa butter are dictated by triacylglycerols (TAG) composition, and the main TAGs are POP, POSt and StOSt (SCHENK; PESCHAR, 2004; JAHURUL et al, 2013). The melting properties of this pure cocoa butter chocolates might be inadequate for some porpouses and some climate conditions, as the found in tropical contries. For that reason the analogous to cocoa butter are used in the production of chocolate, chocolate-like products, and cream products (SHUKLA, 2006; TORBICA; JOVANOVIC; PAJIN, 2006)

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