Palm Oil Applications - Confectionery

Chocolate products are regarded the world over as a special "treat." Their attraction lies in the unique flavor of the roasted cocoa bean, and in the characteristic brittle texture, the "snap" and the "crunch" experience in breaking and chewing. This texture is derived from the fat and must be accompanied by a rapid melt-in-the-mouth sensation and no residual greasy feeling.

These properties are inherent in the two-oleo-disaturated glycerides which form more than 75% of cocoa butter. The search for other fats with similar behavior has resulted in two different solutions based on palm oil.

1. Cocoa butter equivalent fats

These fats can be mixed with cocoa butter in any proportions. Their main component is a mid-fraction of palm oil, which is obtained by a careful double fractionation from solvent to remove the more liquid and the high melting components. Such a fraction has a high proportion of the desired two monounsaturated glycerides.

In milk chocolate, where the butterfat has a softening effect, the palm mid-fraction needs to be reinforced by two-mono unsaturated glycerides from one to other tropical nut oil.

Examples of suitable formulae and their application are given in Table 6.

Composition			Chocolate type
	Plain	Milk 5 % milk fat	Milk 15% milk fat	Milk 30% milk fat
100 % P.M.F.	/	/	-	-
70 - 80 % P.M.F. 20 - 30 % Sheaor Sal Stearin	/	/	/	-
60 - 65 % P.M.F.20 - 30 % Sheaor Sal Stearin 15 - 20 % lllipe	/	/	/	/

TABLE 6 : TYPICAL FORMULAE & APPLICATIONS OF COCOA BUTTER EQUIVALENT FATS

2. Cocoa butter extenders or replacers

These fats can only be mixed with cocoa butter to a limited extent without causing softening and loss of appearance during storage. A successful product is based on a double fractionated polein, rich in POO glycerides, which is then partly hydrogenated. As an extender, this fat can be used at 10-15% of the cocoa butter content. Alternatively, is can be used as the sole fat component in a variety of chocolate flavored confections or coatings, using fat-free cocoa powder.

A third type of confectionery fat is based on fractionated or partly hydrogenated palm kernel oil. A variety of products tailor-made for particular applications such as toffee fats and bakery coatings is available.

For use as chocolate flavored coating on ice cream bars or in the USA as "popsicles", neither palm oil nor palm kernel oil or cocoa butter are very suitable. At the low temperature at which such products are eaten, the coatings are very brittle and tend to flake off. It is usual in this application to blend palm or palm kernel oil with a high quality liquid oil, such as ground nut oil, to give the right physical behavior.