Characterization of enzymatically interesterified palm oil-based fats and its potential application as cocoa butter substitute

Abstract Cocoa butter substitutes (CBS) used for chocolate preparation was produced using a mixture of palm kernel oil (PKO) and enzymatically interesterified fats. The interesterified fats consisted of palm olein (POL), fully hydrogenated palm oil (FHPO) and PKO that were catalyzed using Lipozyme TL IM at 65 °C in a solvent-free packed bed reactor. An interesterification degree of 97.10% was obtained using feed flow rate of 70 mL/min and the interesterified fats showed steep solid fat content (SFC) curve characteristics with low SFC at high temperature. In the binary system, PKO and the interesterified fats showed good compatibility at 5-10 °C, while eutectic effects were observed at 15-35°C. CBS produced from PKO and the interesterified fats in a mass ratio of 4:6 (CBS-46) and 3:7 (CBS-37) had crystals formed prominently in the β' form. Without the need of a tempering process, chocolate made using CBS-46 as the base oil exhibited the desired properties in terms of hardness and fracturability.