Production of Cocoa Butter Replacer by Dry Fractionation, Partial Hydrogenation, Chemical and Enzymatic Interesterification of Tea Seed Oil

Production of cocoa butter replacer (CBR) from tea seed oil through common modification methods of oils (dry fractionation, partial hydrogenation, chemical and enzymatic interesterification) was evaluated. Some physico-chemical properties (iodine, saponification, acid and peroxide values) and fatty acid composition (FAC) of modified samples were analyzed and compared with a reference cocoa butter (CB). Solid and liquid fractions for large amounts of unsaturated fatty acids (approx. 80%) and thereby lower iodine values (81 85 gI2/100g) than that of CB (37% and 34 gI2/100g, respectively), are not suitable as CBR. Among all ratios of chemically and enzaymatically interesterified oil blends (20%, 25% and 30% of hydrogenated tea seed oil with 80%, 75% and 70% of tea seed oil/liquid fraction/solid fraction), the samples with ratio of 30:70 from both chemical and enzymatic interesterification had FAC and iodine value closer to that of CB. A comparision between chemically and enzymatically interesterified samples (CISs and EISs, respectively), in terms of solid fat content (SFC) indicated that although the SFC values in EIS were much lower than that of CB, but the thermal behavior of this sample is comprable to CB at 20°C30°C (sharp melting point of CB).