The effect of transesterification of engkabang (Shorea macrophylla) fat - canola oil (EF35/ CaO65) blend by Mucor miehei lipase (1%, w/w oil) in a solvent-free system was investigated at different time intervals of 6 h, 12 h and 24 h. Compositional changes of the samples withdrawn at specified time intervals while the reaction in progress were analysed by chromatography, whereas the polymorphic forms and thermal properties were analysed by using X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. There were increases in the amounts of monounsaturated and triunsaturated triacylglycerol (TAG) molecular groups with concurrent reductions of the proportions of desaturated TAG molecular groups during different time intervals. This changing TAG composition led to changes in crystallisation behaviour and thermal properties of the samples, reducing some enthalpy values. All samples withdrawn at different time intervals displayed both β' and β type crystal polymorphs even though engkabang fat itself was predominantly β‐type. In terms of melting, solidification and polymorphic properties, the sample withdrawn at 6 h time interval was found to display the closest similarity to lard (LD).
Tropical fats such as palm oil (PO) from Elaeis guineensis (oil palm), cocoa (Theobroma cacao
L.) butter (CB), avocado (Persea americana) oil (Avo), palm stearin (PS), and Mee (Madhuca
longifolia) fat (MF) are useful raw materials for the formulation of bakery shortenings. Blending
these fats at differing ratios such as binary [MF:PS (99:1)], ternary [Avo:PS:CB (84:7:9)], and
quaternary [PO:PS:SBO:CB (38:5:52:5)] would lead to fat mixtures as replacement for lard
(LD). In the present work, the influence of these three fat blends and LD on cookie dough
textural properties and cookie quality was investigated. The results showed that the hardness of
cookies was correlated to the hardness of dough, which was influenced by the solid fat content
(SFC). The degree of unsaturation of triacylglycerol molecules also seemed to influence these
parameters. Nevertheless, the cookies of all different types of shortenings did not show any
significant differences with regard to their width and thickness. This could be probably due
to the fact that cookies made from formulated plant-based shortenings and LD expanded
uniformly during baking.
This study was to characterize the seed fat from Madhuca longifolia known as Mee fat and its solid and liquid fractions with the objective of distinguishing them. A sample of Mee fat was partitioned into solid and liquid fractions using acetone as the solvent medium. The isolated fractions were compared to the native Mee fat sample with respect to various physico-chemical parameters using standard chemical methods as well as instrumental techniques such as, gas liquid chromatography (GLC), reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Basic analyses indicated that there were wide variations between the native sample and its fractions with respect to iodine value (IV), and slip melting point (SMP). The cloud point (CP) of the liquid fraction was found to be 10.5 degrees C. Fatty acid compositional analyses showed that the proportion of saturated fatty acids (SFA) such as palmitic and stearic went up in the high-melting fraction (HMF) while in low-melting fraction (LMF) the proportion of unsaturated fatty acid (USFA) such as oleic and lenoleic increased. According to the HPLC analyses, Mee fat had a tiacyl glycerol (TAG) sequence similar to that of palm oil. After fractionation, the solid and liquid fractions obtained were found to have TAG profiles very much different from the native sample. Thermal analyses by DSC showed that Mee fat had two-widely separated high and low melting thermal transitions, a feature which was beneficial for the effective separation of solid and liquid fractions. The thermal profiles displayed by the fractions were clearly distinguishable from that of the native sample.
Lard being an edible fat could be used in different forms in food systems. In this study, composition and thermal analysis of lard stearin (LS) and lard olein (LO) were undertaken to determine some common parameters which would enable their detection in food. A sample of native lard was partitioned into LS and LO using acetone as solvent and the fractions were compared to the original sample with respect to basic physico-chemical parameters, fatty acid and triacylglycerol (TAG) composition, and thermal characteristics. Although LS and LO displayed wider variations in basic physico-chemical parameters, thermal properties and solidification behavior, they do possess some common characteristic features with regard to composition. In spite of the proportional differences in the major fatty acids, both LS and LO are found to possess extremely high amount of palmitic (C16:0) acid at the sn-2 positions of their TAG molecules. Similar to native lard, both LS and LO contained approximately equal proportions of TAG molecules namely, linoleoyl-palmitoyl-oleoyl glycerol (LPO) and dioleoyl-palmitoyl glycerol (OPO). Hence, the calculated LPO/OPO ratio for LS and LO are comparably similar to that of native lard.