Confectionery Fats Handbook

Book excerpt: Fat is the most expensive component in confectionery such as chocolate. It may comprise of cocoa butter, milk fat, palm oil, lauric oil, exotic fats, etc. This new handbook, with a large number of figures and tables, provides a comprehensive guide to all aspects of confectionery fats, with particular emphasis on the later. Unlike sugar confectionery, chocolate is a fat-continuous product and the sugar, like the other non-fat components, is merely mixed with the fat rather than melted/boiled. The properties of chocolate confectionery are thus determined mainly by the fat, which comprises about 26-35% in a typical chocolate formulation. The book describes the essential physical chemistry needed to understand the properties of confectionery fats, analytical methods, raw materials, the production and properties of confectionery fats, and their application in sugar and chocolate confectionery. It concludes with consideration of legislation and regulatory aspects of producing confectionery and of using milk fat, cocoa butter and alternative fats together with a chapter on analytical methods for detecting and quantifying confectionery fats. Finally, four appendixes provide: a glossary of terms and abbreviations used; details of confectionery fat manufacturers; details of confectionary fat products produced by these manufacturers; and a list of websites from other relevant organizations that the reader may find useful.