Evaluation of the Miscibility of Novel Cocoa Butter Equivalents by Raman Mapping and Multivariate Curve Resolution–Alternating Least Squares

Abstract

Cocoa butter (CB) is an ingredient traditionally used in the manufacturing of chocolates, but its availability is decreasing due to its scarcity and high cost. For this reason, other vegetable oils, known as cocoa butter equivalents (CBE), are used to replace CB partially or wholly. In the present work, two Peruvian vegetable oils, coconut oil (CNO) and sacha inchi oil (SIO), are proposed as novel CBEs. Confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) was used for the chemical differentiation and polymorphism of these oils with CB based on their Raman spectra. To analyze their miscibility, two types of blends were prepared: CB with CNO, and CB with SIO. Both were prepared at 5 different concentrations (5%, 15%, 25%, 35%, and 45%). Raman mapping was used to obtain the chemical maps of the blends and analyze their miscibility through distribution maps, histograms and relative standard deviation (RSD). These values were obtained with multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares. The results show that both vegetable oils are miscible with CB at high concentrations: 45% for CNO and 35% for SIO. At low concentrations, their miscibility decreases. This shows that it is possible to consider these vegetable oils as novel CBEs in the manufacturing of chocolates.

Raman Spectroscopic and Sensory Evaluation of Cocoa Liquor Prepared with Ecuadorian Cocoa Beans Treated with Gamma Irradiation or Induced Electromagnetic Field Fermentation

“…The previous assignment of the C=O and C=C double bonds is consistent with another work on cocoa butter that depicted peaks at 1745.4 and 1733.8 cm −1 , representing the crystallization forms III and IV, respectively [52]. These forms correspond to the region described for the stretching vibrations due to C=O bonds.…”

“…These forms correspond to the region described for the stretching vibrations due to C=O bonds. Likewise, the C=C stretching region exhibits a band at 1662.7 cm −1 , associated with the presence of oleic acid and representative of form-IV crystallization in cocoa butter at room temperature [52]. In addition, the literature on Raman spectra reports their corresponding monoacid triglyceride assignments of C=O stretching vibrations at 1720-1750 cm −1 , C=C stretching vibrations at 1600-1680 cm −1 , CH 2 or CH 3 group scissoring deformations at 1400-1500 cm −1 , CH 2 twisting at approx.…”

Characterization of Essential Oils from the Skin of <em>Citrus limetta</em> Risso, <em>Citrus limetta</em> Sp., <em>Citrus reticulata</em> and <em>Citrus sinensis</em> Grown in Northeastern Peru

“…The Raman signal was obtained using a 600 lines/mm grating centered between 800 and 3100 cm-1. The acquired spectra were corrected over a range from 1000 to 1800 cm-1, smoothed and baseline corrected using LabSpec 6 Suite software [39].…”

Changes of Dark Couverture Chocolate Hardness During Storage Tempered Using Automatic Tempering Machine with Tank and Tempering Temperature as Variables

“…Form β2 also known βV is the most desirable polymorphic form of the welltempered chocolate products. Thus, the products have a good contraction, shiny, even-coloured, snap, smooth taste [4,11,[14][15][16]. While bad-tempered chocolate gives a chewy, chalky, grainy, or whitish colour, known as the fat or water-bloom phenomenon during storage [17][18][19].…”