Application of kokum (Garcinia indica) fat as cocoa butter improver in chocolate

Abstract

Although cocoa butter (CB) is an ideal fat for use in chocolate, it softens with heat and is not suitable for use in warm climates. CB extenders or improvers, preferably from stearic acid-rich fats, are good candidates to increase the heat-resistance property of CB and chocolate. In the present investigation, one such fat, kokum, is used as an improver to increase the hardness of chocolate. Kokum fat is added in various proportions replacing CB in dark and milk chocolate formulations and its effects on rheology, hardness and triglyceride composition were studied. The results revealed that up to 5% kokum fat addition by weight of the product did not significantly affect the plastic viscosity or yield stress of milk or dark chocolate. Hardness of both dark and milk chocolate increased with increase in addition of kokum fat. The solids fat content at and above 30 • C increased with increase in level of kokum fat with CB, especially at and above 15%. These physical properties are due to increase in 2-oleodistearin triglycerides with addition of kokum fat with CB. The results revealed that kokum fat could be used up to 5% by wt of the product to increase the heat-resistance property of chocolate so that it can be used in warm climates.

Impact of Particle Size Distribution on Rheological and Textural Properties of Chocolate Models with Reduced Fat Content

“…Literature (Full and others 1996) reports that mixing milk fat to the cocoa butter in chocolate decreased the SFC and gives softer products. On the contrary, the incorporation of fat whose triacylglycerides contain high levels of stearic acid such as Kokum fat increases the SFC and hence the hardness (Maheshwari and Yella Reddy 2005). …”

Rheological Properties of Milk Chocolates as Influenced by Milk Powder Type, Emulsifier, and Cocoa Butter Equivalent Additions

“…Partial replacement of cocoa butter with CBE caused the viscosity to increase in other chocolates, especially when PGPR was used. Maheshwari and Reddy [22] reported that adding up to 5% (of the weight of the product) of kokum fat (used as CBE) to chocolate had no significant influence on the plastic viscosity of milk chocolate at 40 • C as well as that there was marginal increase in the yield stress, but that using 18.2% of kokum fat caused a significant increase in the shear stress and viscosity. Lecithin has the lowest fat holding capacity and the lowest HLB (hydrophilic-lipophilic balance) value of all examined emulsifiers.…”

Application of fats in some food products

“…The development of functional chocolate spreads with palm olein and cotton seed oil (El-Kalyoubi et al, 2011) and studies on mango seed fat (Kaphueakngam et al, 2009;Solis-Fuentes & Duran-de-Bazua, 2004), kokum butter (Maheshwari & Reddy, 2005), partial replacement of the cocoa butter with cupuassu fat obtaining a product similar to traditional products (Lannes et al, 2002) and others such as salt fat, shea butter, illipe butter, soya oil, rape seed oil, cotton oil, ground nut oil, and coconut oil have been carried out (Jahurul et al, 2013).…”