Production of cocoa butter‐like fats by the lipase‐catalyzed interesterification of palm oil and hydrogenated soybean oil

Cocoa butter‐like fats were prepared from refined, bleached, and deodorized palm oil (RBD‐PO) and fully hydrogenated soybean oil (HSO) by enzymatic interesterification at various weight ratios of substrates. The cocoa butter‐like fats were isolated from the crude interesterification mixture by fractional crystallization from acetone. Analysis of these fat products by RP‐HPLC in combination with ELSD or MS detection showed that their TAG distributions were similar to that of cocoa butter but that they also contained MAG and DAG, which were removed by silica chromatography. The optimal weight ratio of RBD‐PO to HSO found to produce a fat product containing the major TAG component of cocoa butter, namely, 1(3)‐palmitoyl‐3(1)‐stearoyl‐2‐monoolein (POS), was 1.6∶1. The m.p. of this purified product as determined by DSC was comparable to the m.p. of cocoa butter, and its yield was 45% based on the weight of the original substrates.