Crystallization and Melting Behavior of Cocoa Butter in Lipid Bodies of Fresh Cacao Beans

Abstract

The present study aims at observing the crystallization and polymorphic behavior of cocoa butter (CB) in fresh cacao beans with DSC and X-ray diffraction techniques. Underlying idea of this study was to relate the necessary conditions of germination of cacao beans to the crystallization of CB, which are present in oil-in-water emulsion droplets (lipid bodies) having 1~2 µm diameters. Different cooling and heating conditions, with rates of 15, 2, 0.5 and 0.1°C/min, were applied to 2 fresh cacao beans and compared to bulk CB. The results showed that the crystallization temperatures (Tc) of CB in fresh cacao beans were lower than those of bulk CB at all the experimental conditions. In addition, polymorphic behavior of the occurrence of metastable and stable forms of CB was also different between the fresh cacao beans and the bulk state. The thermal behavior of fresh and dried cacao beans having different geographical origins was also analyzed. This study indicates that the germination conditions of cacao beans are extended to lowtemperature environmental areas by lowering Tc of CB in fresh beans than of the bulk oil. The results were consistent with the germination experiments of fresh cacao beans at different temperatures.

Pre-Crystallization of Nougat by Seeding with Cocoa Butter Crystals Enhances the Bloom Stability of Nougat Pralines

“…SEED 100 cocoa butter crystals (ßV) were provided by Uelzena eG (Uelzen, Germany). The melting peak temperature measured by DSC was 34.0 ± 0.1 °C and the phase transition enthalpy was 132.5 ± 0.7 J/g, which is in line with literature data on the ßV polymorph [ 13 , 14 ] ( Figure S1 ). It needs to be mentioned that other researchers (e.g., [ 12 , 15 ] associated such a melting temperature with polymorph ßVI, but this will not be discussed further.…”

Kinetics Crystallization and Polymorphism of Cocoa Butter throughout the Spontaneous Fermentation Process

“…Since CB is a mixture of TAGs, we must talk about melting range instead of melting temperature [ 55 ]. Bayés-García et al [ 56 ] reported the melting behavior at 2 °C/min of bulk CB and unfermented cocoa beans, finding forms α and ( and of ∼17.5 and 28.6 °C, respectively), values close to those reported in Table 2 . The difference in peak temperature is attributed to a different heating rate [ 57 ].…”

Heterogeneous Nucleation Effects of Talc Particles on Polymorphic Crystallization of Cocoa Butter

“…A shoulder was located at 27.2 ± 1.1 °C, and the end melting temperature was set at 27.7 ± 1.1 °C. These experimental conditions for bulk CB were already reported by our group in previous work …”

“…Many researchers have investigated the polymorphic crystallization and transformation mechanisms of CB under isothermal and nonisothermal conditions, not only in the bulk state − but also under the effects of certain selected additives. , As an example, Loisel et al evaluated the influence of replacing CB partly with its indigenous minor components of tristearoylglycerol (SSS), distearoylglycerol, and stearic acid on chocolate crystallization and determined that the incorporation of distearoylglycerol and stearic acid delayed the formation of SSS crystals and decreased their growth rate to a slight extent. Likewise, a very recent study reported on the effectiveness of the addition of phospholipids at a concentration of the order of 0.1% on the crystallization of CB and commercial chocolate .…”

“…These experimental conditions for bulk CB were already reported by our group in previous work. 6 Selected crystallization and melting temperatures for CB in bulk and CB + talc at different concentrations are gathered in Table 1.…”