Cocoa butter symmetrical monounsaturated triacylglycerols: separation by solvent fractionation and application as crystallization modifier

Abstract

Symmetrical monounsaturated triacylglycerols-also known as SUS (saturated unsaturated saturated triacylglycerols)-are the main triacylglycerols present in cocoa butter (CB), exhibiting decisive influence in the tempering process conditions and sensorial characteristics in chocolate products. CBs with lower amounts of SUS do not crystallize adequately in chocolate processing, generating a low quality product with higher susceptibility to fat bloom formation. In this context, fractions with higher contents of SUS triacylglycerols were obtained by solvent fractionation of cocoa butter, under four operating conditions varying crystallization temperatures (17, 18, 20 and 22 °C) and sample/acetone solvent ratios (1:7 and 1:5, in w/v). After solvent evaporation, CB fractions were evaluated in terms of triacylglycerol profile, solid fat content and melting point. The solvent fractionation performed at 17 °C with a 1:7 ratio of cocoa butter:acetone favored the separation of a higher concentrated SUS stearin (denominated as S17) with 7.1% increment in SUS triacylglycerols, mainly StOSt-1-stearyl-2-oleoyl-stearin (26.9%) and POSt-1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-stearin (45.0%). Additionally, S17 was added to pure cocoa butter at three different proportions of CB:S17 (95:5, 90:10 and 80:20, in w/w) and the blend was evaluated by isothermal crystallization (at 17.5 °C) and consistency (at 10, 15 and 20 °C). Compared to the pure cocoa butter, at 10 °C, the blend with 20% stearin (80:20) showed an increment of 67% in the consistency and considerable higher crystallization rates at 17.5 °C were found, confirming the potential contribution of the SUS triacylglycerols as crystallization modifiers of CB.

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

“…Both CB and CBE are composed primarily of POP, POSt and StOSt, with respective concentrations for CB of 16.45%, 40.30% and 23.66% (total 80.41%) and for CBE of 25.04%, 9.29% and 43.47% (total 77.8%), with total values lower than the range found in the literature for CBE (79.6 to 85.7%) (BOOTELLO et al, 2012) and for CB (87.7 to 91.7%) (RIBEIRO et al, 2012;BUSCATO;KIECKBUSCH, 2017). The important characteristic of this CBE is the high amount of StOSt compared to other CBE studied before (DE CLERCQ et al, 2017).…”

“…These results confirm that when there are no differences in the fat blends physical properties the replacement of a CB for CBE on those amounts do not interfere in the chocolate quality either. Besides that the use of CBE is advantage due the presence of higher amounts of StOSt triacylglycerols that can strengthen the development of β crystals in the tempering process-desirable in the chocolate production and also inhibit the formation of fat bloom during chocolate storage (BUSCATO; GRIMALDI; KIECKBUSCH, 2017). As found in a previous work for the same chocolate composition after temperature cycling 20/33 °C (DA SILVA; GRIMALDI; GONÇALVES, 2017).…”

The rheology and foamability of crystal-melt suspensions composed of triacylglycerols

“…PKO shows a high amount of trilaurin and other TAGs composed of completely saturated fatty acids, whereas AMF and CB contain high amount of monounsaturated TAGs. 44–46 Previous studies have shown that small amounts of monounsaturated TAGs lead to the formation of rough crystallite surfaces, whereas completely saturated TAGs form smooth surfaces. 47 Hence, the saturated TAGs present in PKO form crystallites with smooth surfaces thereby reducing crystallite cluster and floc adhesion strength.…”

“…The molecular origin determining the crystallite cluster and floc strength is related to the TAG composition. PKO shows a high amount of trilaurin and other TAGs composed of completely saturated fatty acids, whereas AMF and CB contain high amount of monounsaturated TAGs [44][45][46] . Previous studies have shown that small amounts of monounsaturated TAGs lead to the formation of rough crystallite surfaces, whereas completely saturated TAGs form smooth surfaces 47 .…”

Graphene Oxide Increases Corneal Permeation of Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride from Oleogels: A Study with Cocoa Butter-Based Oleogels

“…Theobroma cacao is cultivated in Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Ecuador [ 19 ]. The compositional profile of the triacylglycerols (TAGs) of CB considerably varies with the origin of the plant, season of collection of the beans, variety of the tree, and handling techniques during the extraction process [ 20 ]. Commonly found triacylglycerols (TAGs) in CB include glycerol-1-palmitate-2-oleate-3-stearate (POSt; P-palmitic, St-stearic, O-oleic; 33.7–40.5%), glycerol-1,3-distearate-2-oleate (StOSt; 23.8–31.2%), and glycerol-1,3-dipalmitate-2-oleate (POP; 13.6–15.5%) [ 21 ].…”