Fats having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption and confectionery using the same

Abstract: Migration of fat in complex confectionery is prevented by using a fat having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption which comprises 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms. Chocolate having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption to be used for a complex confectionery comprises a fat ingredient comprising 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which constituent saturated fatty acids have 20 to 24 carbon atoms. A complex confectionery comprising the chocolate and a baked confectionery and shell molded type chocolate are also described.

Description: The present invention relates to fats having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption and confectionery using the fats. There are complex confectionery products such as baked confectionery made from wheat flour, fat ingredients, sugar and the like as main raw materials, for example, biscuits and cookies, coated with chocolate or containing chocolate sandwiched therein. In such complex confectionery products, liquid fat ingredients in baked confectionery such as margarine, shortening and the like tend to migrate to the chocolate, which causes whitening or the baked confectionery (origin of migration) and softening of the chocolate (destination of migration). This phenomenon significantly diminishes the commercial value of complex baked confectionery products. In addition, in shell molded type chocolate and the like, liquid fat ingredients tend to migrate from the center portions to the shell portions, which causes softening and sticking of the shell portions (destination of migration), dryness and crumbling of the center portions (origin of migration) and inferior melting in the mouth. This phenomenon also significantly diminishes the commercial value of the products. These phenomena are referred to as so-called "migration phenomena of fats and oils" as described in "Confectionery Production", G. Talbot, et al., p 265, April (1990), JP-B 61-47491, JP-A 63-126457, JP-A 64-60325 and JP-A 5-192081. In this prior art an additive is added to a fat phase in an origin of migration (for example, margarine or shortening in the case of baked confectionery or center cream in the case of shell mold chocolate) to finely crystallize the fat phase to control solid-liquid separation, thereby the degree of freedom of a liquid fat ingredient is reduced to prevent migration of the liquid fat ingredient, or the formulation of confectionery products is designed assuming that migration of liquid fat ingredients would take place. However, these prior art techniques are far removed from measures which are taken by intensively studying the functional mechanism of migration phenomena and directly treating the cause thereof. EP-A-0 276 548 describes a chocolate additive comprising powder particles having as main component a 2-unsaturated-1,3-disaturated glyceride with constituent saturated fatty acids having 20 to 24 carbon atoms, a chocolate comprising particles of this glyceride and a use of said glyceride for the manufacture of a chocolate additive/fat comprising 1.5 parts of a fat and 6 parts of cacao butter. EP-A-0 227 364 describes a hard butter composition which comprises as a main ingredient a triglyceride SUS (S=saturated fatty acid residues and U=unsaturated fatty acid residues). Constituent saturated fatty acids contain at least 4% by weight of one or more of behenic acid, lignoceric acid, cerotic acid and arachidic acid. A hard butter (comprising the above-mentioned triglyceride SUS) or cocoa butter (19.8 parts) and cacao mass (15.7 parts), powdered whole milk (20 parts), powdered sugar (44.5 parts) and lecithin (0.5 part) were mixed and worked in a conche for preparing chocolate. The use of said trigylceride for the manufacture of the hard butter is also described. EP-A-0 451 781 describes a fat and oil composition comprising 2-oleo-1,3-behenin. Said fat and oil composition is used in a chocolate in an amount of from 5 to 50% by weight and can be obtained by blending. The present inventors have studied the functional mechanism of migration of liquid fat ingredients of complex confectionery products. As a result, it has been found that migration is a phenomenon that the liquid fat ingredient in the fat phase of a baked confectionery in a complex confectionery product permeates into fine holes present in the fat ingredient of chocolate in contact with the fat phase and that the amount of permeation is influenced by the diameter of the holes at a specific region in a destination of migration (JP-A 5-292886). In addition, it has also been found that when migration of a liquid fat ingredient has taken place, the fat ingredient in a destination of migration is swollen by oil absorption. Thus, the present inventors have looked for a means for preventing migration of a liquid fat ingredient of a complex confectionery product which is different from the conventional means for controlling the fat phase of an origin of migration but is to control a fat ingredient of a destination of migration. For this purpose the present inventors have investigated fats by taking the presence or absence of a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption as the indication of the ability for preventing the migration of a liquid fat ingredient. Objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description together with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a front view illustrating the results of a test for swelling caused by oil absorption of the 3 samples of Example 2 hereinafter. Fig. 2 is an enlarged front view illustrating the result of the control sample (CB) in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged front view illustrating the result of the 1,3-dibehenoyl-2-oleyl glyceride (BOB) fat-adding sample in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged front view illustrating the result of the dibehenoyl-monooleyl random glyceride (B 2 O) fat-adding sample in Fig. 1. According to the present invention, there is provided a fat having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption which comprises 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms. The present invention also provides chocolate having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption to be used for a complex confectionery which comprises a fat ingredient comprising 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms. The present invention further provides a shell molded type chocolate comprising a shell of the chocolate of the present invention and a center cream. As the first aspect, the present invention provides a fat having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption which comprises 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms. Di-saturated-mono-unsaturated type triglycerides including the above 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms and their production have been known from U.S. Patent 4,241,054, JP-A 62-6635 and JP-A 63-240745 and the triglycerides can be produced according to any of these known methods such as interesterification. However, there is no teaching or suggestion of a fat having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption in this prior art. Specifically, U.S. Patent 4,241,054 discloses the triglycerides as a cacao butter substitute of a pharmaceutical composition for preventing archorrhea. JP-A 62-6635 discloses the triglycerides as an anti-fat blooming agent. JP-A 63-240745 discloses the triglycerides as an agent for omitting or facilitating a tempering operation or as an agent for restoring the gloss of chocolate after storing at such a high temperature that the chocolate loses its shape retention. None of this prior art discloses a fat having a function for preventing swelling caused by oil absorption. The term "fat having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption" used herein means a fat which is different from a conventional fat used in a fat phase of an origin of migration (for example, JP-A 63-126457 as described above) but is a fat which is used in a fat phase of a destination of migration. The fat has a function that it comes contact with a fat phase of a low solid fat portion (a portion containing a larger amount of a liquid fat, i.e., origin of migration) to prevent migration of a fat from the low solid fat portion and to prevent swelling of a fat in the destination of migration caused by oil absorption. This function does not have any relation to anti-fat blooming or omission or facilitation of a temparing operation. In fact, even di-saturated-mono-unsaturated type triglycerides contain the constituent saturated fatty acids having 20 to 24 carbon atoms, if the unsaturated fatty acid residue is connected to the 1- or 3-position of the triglycerides, as shown in Examples hereinafter, they do not show any function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption, although they can prevent fat blooming in the chocolate production. Rather, they interfere with the function of the co-existing corresponding 2-unsaturated type triglycerides. In this respect, among di-saturated-mono-unsaturated type triglycerides containing the constituent saturated fatty acid having 20 to 24 carbon atoms, the corresponding 2-unsaturated type glycerides should be present in a larger amount than the corresponding 2-saturated type glycerides. Therefore, when enzymatic interesterification with an enzyme having 1,3-specificity is carried out to produce triglycerides, a product having the desired function can be obtained. However, when interesterification is carried out by using an alkali metal catalyst such as sodium methylate to produce triglycerides, it is difficult to obtain a product having the desired function because the yield of 2-saturated type glycerides are twice the yield of corresponding 2-unsaturated type glycerides. In addition, even if the triglycerides are 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type triglycerides, when they are those predominantly used in cacao butter substituents, i.e, the constituent saturated fatty acids are those of relatively short chains such as those having 16 to 18 carbon atoms, the triglycerides do not show the desired function. Furthermore, when di-saturated-mono-unsaturated type triglycerides including those containing the constituent saturated fatty acids having 20 to 24 carbon atoms are used in the form of a stable crystalline powder without melting in chocolate production, they show a function for omitting or facilitating a tempering operation. However, a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption is scarcely expected by such a method for using the triglycerides. Thus, in the present invention, it is desired that the triglycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms are used in the form of a melted state together with other triglycerides. In the 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type triglycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms to be used as an effective ingredient for showing a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption, it is preferred that both saturated fatty acid residues are those of constituent fatty acids having 20 to 24 carbon atoms rather than only one residue is that of a constituent fatty acid having 20 to 24 carbon atoms. As the unsaturated fatty acid, oleic acid is preferred more that linoleic acid and linolenic acid. In view of the availability of raw materials, among the saturated fatty acids having 20 to 24 carbon atoms, that having 22 carbon atoms, i.e., behenic acid is preferred. Specifically, a typical example of the 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides in the present invention is 1,3-dibehenoyl-2-oleyl glyceride (hereinafter sometimes referred to as BOB). However, a part of them may be BOSt (St represents a stearic acid residue), AOA (A represents an arachic acid residue) or BLB (L represents a linoleic orlinolenic acid residue). For exhibiting the function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption, the effective amount of the glycerides in the fat of the present invention is preferably 0.1 to 20% by weight, more preferably 2 to 7% by weight based on the total weight of the fat. When the amount of the glycerides is too much, when using the fat in chocolate production viscosity is increased and thereby inferior workability results. However, when other fats such as cacao butter and other hard butter are added to the fat before it is used for the production of chocolate to be used for complex confectionery, the fat can contain a larger amount of sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide. The fat of the present invention can be in the form of hard butter as a raw material for the production of chocolate. In such a case, the fat can be a composition mainly composed of 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which constituent saturated fatty acids have 16 to 18 carbon atoms and which contains 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms in an amount of 2 to 20% by weight, preferably, 3 to 10% by weight based on the total weight of the composition. The second aspect of the present invention is to provide chocolate having a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption to be used for a complex confectionery which comprises a fat ingredient comprising the above 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms. In this chocolate, as described hereinabove, the glycerides are contained in an amount of, preferably, 0.1 to 20% by weight, more preferably, 2 to 7% by weight based on the weight of the fat ingredient of chocolate. The chocolate can be produced according to a conventional process. Since the crystal transition rate of 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms is slower than that of a conventional chocolate fat ingredient, any known seed agent (JP-A 62-136530, JP-A 64-60330, JP-A 2-000406) can be used in chocolate production. The third aspect of the present invention is to provide a shell molded type chocolate comprising the above chocolate of the present invention as its shell and center cream. The center cream is not limited to any specific one and any conventional center cream can be used. The shell molded type chocolate of the present invention can be produced according to a conventional process. The following Examples further illustrate the present invention in detail but are not to be construed to limit the scope thereof. In the Examples, all percents and parts are by weight. Example 1 Production of BOB and dibehenoyl-monooleyl random glyceride (hereinafter referred to as B 2 O) High oleic sunflower oil and behenic acid ethyl ester were interesterified with a lipase having 1,3-specificity and ethyl ester was distilled off. The interesterified product was subjected to solvent fractionation and the resultant high melting point fraction was purified to obtain a fat containing 68% of glycerides having constituent fatty acids of 20 to 24 carbon atoms at the 1,3-positions (hereinafter referred to as BOB fat). B 2 O fat used in the following Examples as a comparative sample was produced by interesterifying high oleic sunflower oil and behenic acid ethyl ester with sodium methylate, distilling off ethyl ester, subjecting the interesterified product to solvent fractionation and purifying the middle melting point fraction to obtain a fat containing 68% of mixed acid glycerides having randomly distributed 2 molecules of constituent fatty acids of 20 to 24 carbon atoms and 1 molecule of oleic acid. Example 2 Production of fat having function for preventing swelling caused by oil absorption The desired fat was produced by adding BOB fat to cacao butter in an amount of 5% based on the total weight of the fat. Each sample of this fat, cacao butter (CB, control) and a comparative fat produced by adding B 2 O fat to cacao butter in an amount of 5% based on the total weight of the fat was subjected to tempering and tested for swelling caused by oil absorption. In order to avoid any possible difference in tempering, a shortening type seed agent containing stable crystal powder of SOS glycerides was added to each fat in an amount of 0.2%. The test for swelling caused by oil absorption was carried out as follows: The fat sample subjected to tempering at 30°C was poured into a glass tube having a 5 mm inner diameter from one end thereof until the front of the fat reached a 6 cm distance from the end. The glass tube was allowed to stand at 15°C for 20 minutes to cool and solidify the fat sample and aged at 20°C for 1 week. Then, the fat sample was pushed out of the glass tube to obtain a sample in the form of a rod. The rod sample was suspended and fixed on a beaker containing a colored liquid fat (0.5% Sudan IV dissolved in high oleic sunflower oil containing 80% of oleic acid) so that the lower end of the rod sample came into contact with the colored liquid fat. The sample was allowed to stand in this position for one week with changing temperature (1 temperature change cycle/day, at 18°C for half a day and 27°C for half a day). After one week, absorption of the colored liquid fat and swelling of the rod sample was observed by the naked eye. The results are shown in Figs. 1 to 4. In Figs. 1 to 4, the portion in black represents absorption of the colored liquid fat. As seen from Figs. 1 to 4, in comparison with cacao butter (CB) and B 2 O fat, the fat of the present invention (BOB fat) remarkably minimizes swelling of the fat. Example 3 Production of chocolate and shell molded type chocolate Shell chocolate Ingredients Parts Cacao butter 26 BOB fat 2 Cacao mass 14 Whole milk powder 20 Powdered sugar 38 Lecithin 0.4 Center cream Ingredients Parts Palm mid fraction 32 Whole milk powder 32 Powdered sugar 36 Lecithin 0.4 According to the above formulations, shell molded type chocolate (shell : center = 5 : 5) was produced in a conventional manner (referred to as A) and tested for liquid fat migration during storage for 1 week with changing temperature as described in Example 2 (17°C and 28°C 1 cycle/day). The evaluation was carried out by extracting fats from the shell portion and the center cream portion before and after storage to determine decrease or increase in the fat content thereof. As a control, another shell molded type chocolate produced in the same manner except cacao butter was used instead of BOB fat (referred to as B) was subjected to the same test. The results were as follows. Extracted fats (%) Shell portion Center portion Before storage 37.54 36.68 After storage A (BOB fat) 38.30 34.01 B (Cacao butter) 44.17 30.70 As seen from these results, when the fat containing BOB fat is used, increase in the fat content of the shell portion is inhibited and therefore softening and sinking which are specific phenomena of fat migration are prevented. In addition, decrease in the fat content of the center portion is not caused and thereby dryness and crumbling are prevented. Thus, when BOB fat is used, the desired initial state of the product can be maintained. Example 4 Production of chocolate and shell molded type chocolate Shell chocolate Ingredients Parts Cacao butter 26 BOB fat 2 Cacao mass 14 Whole milk powder 20 Powdered sugar 38 Lecithin 0.4 Center cream Ingredients Parts Palm mid fraction 32 Whole milk powder 32 Powdered sugar 36 Lecithin 0.4 According to the above formulations, shell molded type chocolate (shell : center = 5 : 5) was produced in a conventional manner (referred to as A) and tested for liquid fat migration during storage for 1 week with changing temperature as described in Example 2 (17°C and 28°C 1 cycle/day). The evaluation was carried out by extracting fats from the shell portion and the center cream portion before and after storage to determine decrease or increase in the fat content thereof. For comparison, another shell molded type chocolate produced in the same manner except cacao butter was used instead of BOB fat (referred to as B) or B 2 O fat was used instead of BOB fat (referred to as C) was subjected to the same test. The results were as follows. Extracted fats (%) Shell portion Center portion Before storage 37.54 36.68 After storage A (BOB fat) 38.30 34.01 B (Cacao butter) 44.17 30.70 C (B 2 O fat) 43.55 29.80 As seen from these results, when the fat containing BOB fat is used, increase in the fat content of the shell portion is inhibited and therefore softening and sinking which are specific phenomena of fat migration are prevented. In addition, decrease in the fat content of the center portion is not caused and thereby dryness and crumbling are prevented. On the other hand, the function of the unsymmetric type fat of C is clearly different from the symmetric type fat of A and only BOB fat is effective in preventing migration of fat. As described hereinabove, the fat of the present invention has a function of preventing swelling caused by oil absorption and migration of fat can be prevented by adding it to a fat phase of a destination of migration rather than a fat phase of an origin of migration. Thus, undesirable phenomena such as whitening, softening, dryness and crumbling in fat containing food products such as shell molded type chocolates can be prevented and it is possible to maintain such food products in a good state for a long period of time without any damage to appearance and deterioration of melting in the mouth.

Claims: Shell molded type chocolate comprising a shell of the chocolate which comprises a fat ingredient comprising 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms wherein the glycerides are present in an amount of 0.1 to 20% by weight based on the weight of the fat ingredient of chocolate, and a center cream. A method for preventing fat migration of shell molded type chocolate which comprises adding a fat comprising 1,3-saturated-2-unsaturated type glycerides of which at least one constituent saturated fatty acid has 20 to 24 carbon atoms to the shell. A method according to claim 2, wherein the glycerides are in the form of a melted state together with other triglycerides.

Inventors: KUMAMORI KOUICHI, MORI HIROYUKI, SAGI NOBUO, KURAMORI, KOUICHI, MORI, HIROYUKI, SAGI, NOBUO, KUMAMORI, KOUICHI
Applicants: FUJI OIL CO LTD, FUJI OIL COMPANY, LIMITED
Application year: 1995
Main classification: A23D9
IPC codes: A23D9, A23G1, A23G3