Cocoa butter substitute: properties, types, benefits and harms
Cocoa butter substitute: properties, types, benefits and harms
Anonim

In the confectionery industry, one of the main semi-finished products is chocolate icing. Traditionally, cocoa butter has been used in the production of this component. This component is not cheap, and the characteristics are very fastidious. In recent years, non-aluric and lauric type cocoa butter substitutes have been used. In the media, we are increasingly seeing controversy about whether this product is useful or harmful. Supporters and opponents of substitutes argue. Let's take a closer look at this issue.

cocoa butter substitute
cocoa butter substitute

Confectionery glaze

No confectionery factory can do without glaze production. It is used in almost all products - in various pastries, in the production of ice cream, glazed curds, sweets, cakes and many other types of sweets. Some characteristics make this frosting so popular:

  • Flavoring. Thanks to the glaze treatment, the product becomes much tastier, sweeter.
  • Nutritious. Sweets get extra nutritional value.
  • Processing with confectionery glaze increases the shelf life of the product. Protects sweets, rolls, cookies from drying out.

Classic glaze is made by mixing several ingredients, this includes: cocoa butter or cocoa butter substitute, sugar, emulsifiers, dry milk products, flavorings. Manufacturers offer bakers and confectioners a wide range of this semi-finished product: glaze in its pure form, with various additives, inclusions, with nuts, with raisins, standard dark brown glaze or various shades and colors.

untempered cocoa butter substitutes
untempered cocoa butter substitutes

Types of fats

The use of pure cocoa butter in the production of chocolate icing is too expensive. Such an expensive type of raw material is used only by large confectionery factories. Most medium and small enterprises replace cocoa butter in the confectionery with identical - more accessible and cheaper - ingredients: substitutes, improvers. This allows us to remain competitive in the production of products, keep prices, make them more affordable for consumers. There are plenty of fats on the Russian market for the production of glaze. The entire range is divided into main groups:

  • Confectionery fats.
  • Tempered cocoa butter substitutes.
  • Untempered cocoa butter substitutes - lauric and non-lauric.

The quality of the fat used in the production of glaze affects the nutritional value and tasteend products.

lauric cocoa butter substitute
lauric cocoa butter substitute

Temperable substitutes

Modern food industry uses in the production of pralines, waffle fillings, chocolate-nut pastes, candy fillings, various plastic and cream masses fats. Cocoa butter substitutes are increasingly being used for glazes.

Tempered substitutes are made using palm oil, sal tree oil, shea butter, and other exotic species that are approved by Rospotrebnadzor for use in our food industry. This raw material is used for the production of high quality chocolate icing, in the manufacture of pastries, waffle cakes, sweets (for casting cases or for glazing). Various figures are cast from chocolate icing, chocolate bars are made. Temperable substitutes have physicochemical parameters that are closest to the properties of cocoa butter itself. Their similarities are maximum.

fats cocoa butter substitutes
fats cocoa butter substitutes

Benefits

Tempered cocoa butter substitute has a number of positive qualities that can be attributed to the benefits of this product:

1. It has excellent taste characteristics. Complete lack of waxy taste in the mouth.

2. Low content of polyunsaturated acids, which provides high resistance to oxidation. Thanks to this, products have a long shelf life.

3. Glazed products have good hardness and gloss. According to organoleptic indicatorssuch products are very similar to those that are covered with natural glaze, where natural cocoa butter is taken as the basis.

4. In hot weather conditions, glazes based on tempered substitutes have good resistance to high temperatures. This gives the product an advantage over those coated with cocoa butter glaze.

cocoa butter substitute
cocoa butter substitute

Untempered cocoa butter equivalents

Non-lauric cocoa butter substitute is made from rapeseed, sunflower, soybean and palm oils. These equivalents are similar in composition to cocoa butter and can be mixed. It is acceptable to use various combinations with other vegetable oil, cocoa powder or milk powder. Non-lauric substitutes are used for glazing wafers, cakes, rolls, marmalade, cookies, marshmallows, for casting tiles, figurines. The advantage of the glaze is that it quickly hardens, does not require tempering.

Untempered cocoa butter substitute of lauric type has the following characteristics:

  • Does not require tempering.
  • Mass fraction of fat is not less than 99%.
  • Made from modified vegetable oil.
  • Lauric acid content is 40% by mass with or without various food additives and other ingredients

It is used for glazing curds, ice cream, cakes, rolls and other confectionery products, chocolate bars. The use of cocoa butter substitutes makes it possible to reduce the cost of products.

lauric cocoa butter substitute
lauric cocoa butter substitute

Lauric fats

Lauric cocoa butter substitute is used to completely replace the natural product in the manufacture of a mixture with a fat content of up to 12%. The raw materials for this species are palm kernel, coconut and other oils that have certain characteristics. Lauric fat cannot be combined with natural cocoa butter. Combination is only possible with powder.

Lauric cocoa butter substitutes are used in the production of confectionery bars, hollow chocolate figurines, super strong glazes for ice cream, cakes, marmalade, marshmallows and curd cheeses.

Benefits

Laurine cocoa butter substitutes have a number of advantages, they are ideal for making a hard glaze that has a luxurious sheen. Glazed products have a hard, but very fragile surface, which, once in the mouth, instantly melts and leaves a pleasant taste. Products are easily separated from the mold, they look very aesthetically pleasing, their surface is smooth and shiny. The glaze melts very easily and then quickly hardens. Glazed products have extended shelf life and bloom resistance (due to oxidation resistance). The tempering stage is excluded. Lauric glazes are very economical financially.

cocoa butter substitute untempered lauric type
cocoa butter substitute untempered lauric type

Flaws

The disadvantages of the product include the possibility of a soapy taste. This can be avoided by observing the following conditions:

  • controlmicrobiological indicators of raw materials, as well as humidity;
  • it is necessary to introduce antioxidants into semi-finished products;
  • do not glaze confectionery, candy shells with high humidity;
  • maintain a certain humidity in the confectionery shop.

When using different types of glazes (lauric and non-lauric fats), equipment must be thoroughly cleaned. Mixing the components can lead to liquefaction of the semi-finished product, in the future it hardens poorly.

Cocoa butter substitute: harmful

After the widespread use of cocoa butter substitutes, many researchers and consumers began to leave the most controversial reviews about the product. The content of palm, coconut oils in almost all confectionery products causes consumer alertness. Are they as safe for the body as the manufacturers claim?

Those who carefully monitor their diet and their he alth have long abandoned products containing palm oil, and explain this by its harmful effects on the body. Cocoa butter contains stearic, oleic, palmitic, and archaic acids. High calorie foods lead to obesity. S alt deposition begins in the body, then diseases of the genitourinary system appear.

cocoa butter substitute
cocoa butter substitute

Palm oil is used to produce lauric cocoa butter substitute. Its harm is due to the presence of saturated fats in the composition. Their frequent use causes diseases of the heart and blood vessels, atherosclerosis,thrombosis, obesity. Palm oil is not completely excreted, it accumulates in the body in the form of toxins. A plastic sticky mass closes up parts of the intestine, lumen of blood vessels, and is deposited on other organs. Palm oil prevents the absorption of some vital trace elements, such as calcium. This causes great harm to the he alth of the child. Smart parents choose a formula for feeding, where the composition does not contain palm oil. It is also a flavor enhancer, and this is highly discouraged for the body. Palm oil - and this has been proven by scientists - is the strongest carcinogen. Refractory substances retain the product for a long time, but do not have the ability to melt in our body. Take care of your he alth and always read the ingredients on the label.

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