Effect of sugar, cocoa particles and lecithin on cocoa butter crystallisation in seeded and non-seeded chocolate model systems

L. Svanberg*, L. Ahrné, N. Lorén, E. Windhab

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

84 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The effect of major chocolate ingredients (sugar, cocoa particles and lecithin), in combination with the two pre-crystallization techniques, seeding and non-seeding, was investigated with respect to the kinetics of cocoa butter crystallisation and the resulting microstructure. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to monitor microstructural evolution under dynamic thermal conditions. DSC measurements and image analysis were also applied in order to quantify the impacts of processing and formulation on microstructure. All ingredients and pre-crystallisation techniques considered proved to have a large impact on fat crystallisation kinetics and the resulting microstructure. Seeded samples tended to form multiple nucleation sites, inducing rapid growth of a crystal network. The non-seeded samples showed an altering structure, with some domains developing large spherical crystals while in other domains a more heterogeneous microstructure resulted. Lecithin showed a remarkable impact on crystallisation kinetics in both the seeded and non-seeded samples. For the seeded samples, the effect was most noteworthy in samples containing cocoa butter and sugar, where lecithin significantly reduced the induction time. In the absence of seeds, lecithin itself acted as the nucleation site for fat crystallisation.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Food Engineering
Volume104
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)70-80
Number of pages11
ISSN0260-8774
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cocoa butter
  • Crystallisation
  • Food processing
  • Kinetics
  • Microstructure
  • Seeding

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