Production of cocoa butter equivalent by enzymatic interesterification through palm oil fractions and high oleic sunflower oil

• Grant number: 15/09384-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2015
• End date: February 29, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Technology
• Principal Investigator: Renato Grimaldi
• Grantee: Mariana Schneider Vianna
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The consumption of chocolates in the world remains high and the possibility of lack of cocoa butter (CB) is real. The Brazilian law for chocolate allows the use of other fat sources, unless the minimal cocoa solids percentage is maintained. In this regard, several alternative fats are available in the market, specially the fats known as cocoa butter equivalents (CBE), products with full compatibility with the CB. Several existing CBEs in the market are formed of imported raw materials and in this sense this project aims to use Brazilian palm oil stearins, obtained from palm oil fractionation as the main raw materials for the preparation of CBEs using the enzymatic interesterification (EI) as a modification process. The EI is a high selectivity reaction, which increases the possibility of producing high levels of symmetric SUS (saturated-unsaturated-saturated) type triglycerides, the main components of cocoa butter. Fractions will be evaluate through the use of instrumental techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized light microscopy (MLP).