ABSTRACT

Cocoa butter is the most preferable confectionery fat. In spite of this, cocoa butter alternatives (CBA) are also highly sought-after confectionery fats due to low supply and higher cost of cocoa butter. In the pursuit to produce palm-based CBA, various technological modification techniques have been employed. These include fractionation, blending, hydrogenation, interesterification (chemical and interesterification) or combination of these processes. Enzymatic interesterification (EIE) of lipids has received a lot of attention for the production of palm-based CBA especially cocoa butter equivalent. This review article, therefore, intends to offer an overview of EIE studies for the production of palm-based CBA. In this review, technological modification techniques are discussed in brief while publication related to EIE are discussed in depth based on its reactions categories (i.e. acidolysis, ester-ester exchange and alcoholysis). Reaction condition (i.e. subtrate, enzyme and optimum condition) and outcome of the EIE process are outlaid in this article.

In this study, 11 commercial samples in Malaysian market consisted of 10 fermented milk beverage and 1 acidified milk beverage were analysed for their proximate analysis, pH, titratable acidity (TA), brix, viscosity, colour, particle size and sensory evaluation. This study was conducted to get an overview on the physicochemical properties and sensory evaluation of the fermented and acidified milk beverages in order to produce palm-based acidified milk beverage. Energy content of these samples were ranged between 33.50-73.00 kcal/100 g. Fat, carbohydrate and protein contents were ranged between 0.00-2.54 g/100 g, 7.52-15.75 g/100 g and 1.98-2.10 g/100 g, respectively. All of the commercial samples were observed to be insignificant in sugar and ash content. pH, TA and brix of the samples varied from 3.50%-4.20%, 0.27%-0.72% and 9.40-18.90°B, accordingly. Colour (L*, a* and b*) varied significantly among the commercial samples. Viscosity and particle size were ranged between 0.022-0.063 Pa.s and 0.45-20.11 μm, respectively. Preferred sample based on sensory evaluation was commercial sample D (fermented). The characteristics of commercial samples B, D and E can be used as guidelines in formulating palm-based acidified milk beverage.

The study looked into the mouldability of cocoa butter alternative (CBA) from blended palm fractions namely palm mid fraction (PMF) IV 45, palm kernel oil (PKO) and palm stearin (POs) IV 33 and IV 14 for the production of chocolate bar. PMF, PKO and POs IV 33 and IV 14 were blended in eight different optimised ratios based on solid fat content (SFC) response of more or close to 50% at 20°C, SFC of less than 10% at 37°C and SFC of less than 5% at 40°C to produce a melt in the mouth and mouldable plain chocolate bar.Mouldability and snappability of the chocolate bar were the main parameters of the study. Physicochemical properties of the fat blends namely the fatty acid composition (FAC), triacylglycerol composition (TAG), solid fat content (SFC), crystallisation rate at isothermal temperature of 5ºC, 10ºC and 20ºC, thermal behaviour, polymorphism, crystal morphology and compatibility test with cocoa butter (CB) for selected fat were also determined. Fat F blend with 91% PMF, 1% PKO, 5% POs IV 33 and 3% POs IV 14 showed the highest SFC (47%) at 20ºC and was able to be moulded and demoulded at 10ºC by 45 min. It has the highest rupture tension (105.28 g f cm -2 ) and breaking force (5501 g f ) at 10ºC. The composition of oleic acid, linoleic acid, total monounsaturated fatty acid, crystal morphology (density) as well as SFC profile at 20°C and crystallisation rate profile at 5°C, 10°C (after 40 th min) and 20°C (before 35 th min) of fat F were comparable with CB while other FAC, TAG, thermal behaviour and polymorphism were dissimilar to CB. Fat F, 10%-30% was observed to be compatible (no eutectic) with CB and therefore, has the potential as fat for chocolate bar. The addition of 10%-30% of fat F to CB increased the SFC to 57% at 20°C. Fat F (30%) with CB could be demoulded by 30 min and produced snappability (breaking force) of 5032.71±85.91 g f at 20°C after one day stabilisation period. Palm-based fat blend having 91% PMF, 1% PKO, 5% POs IV 33 and 3% POs IV 14 and CB has the potential to be used as alternative fat for chocolate bar which can eventually benefit the confectionery industry.