Physicochemical characterization of national and commercial cocoa butter used in Brazil to make chocolate

Abstract

Cocoa butter is one of the most important ingredients in chocolate production as it is responsible for important characteristics of chocolates such as hardness, snap, mold shrinkage, fat bloom stability and melting. It appears that factors such as the geographic area and climate where cocoa is grown directly affect the chemical composition of cocoa butter, so fruits grown in Africa and Asia have greater thermal stability. In this sense, two samples of cocoa butter, a Brazilian one from the south of Bahia and a commercial one (consisting of a mixture of butters from different origins) were studied and compared. The results obtained in this study showed that Brazilian cocoa butter had a higher content of Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA) and a higher content of unsaturated triacylglycerols compared to commercial butter. It also showed a faster polymorphic transition and a higher maximum solids content compared to commercial cocoa butter, indicated by isothermal crystallization analysis. Based on the analyzes carried out, it was found that this cocoa butter studied, from the Forasteiro amelonado species and coming from several farms in the south of Bahia, presented greater thermal stability in relation to commercial cocoa butter, i.e., different from that presented in other studies in the literature.