Cocoa butter substitutes from sal (Shorea robusta) fat.

Commercial sal fats vary in solidification properties and are unsuitable for use as cocoa butter extenders without further processing. Solvent and melt fractionation processes were used and the fractions were evaluated. One type could be satisfactorily fractionated by solvent or by melt fractionation at 23°C to obtain a stearin (yield 75–85%) of satisfactory quality, but the other could only be satisfactorily processed by melt fractionation at 38°C, removing about 10% stearin. The processing requirement of the fat can be assessed easily by determining the cooling curve.