Use of the foam-templated approach for obtaining healthier reduced saturated fat chocolates

Abstract

Chocolate is primarily composed of cocoa butter (CB). The CB continuous phase provides a network structure determining its microstructure, texture, crystallization, and rheological properties, and conferring chocolate its characteristic flavor (Li & Liu, 2019). In turn, a specific range of triglycerides (TAGs) contributes to the unique CB physical properties (Bahari & Akoh, 2018), and its appealing sensory characteristics. Reformulation of chocolates seeks to find alternatives to CB that adhere to nutritional recommendations to replace saturated fats with unsaturated ones. In this research, chocolates were elaborated by substituting CB with an oleogel (OG) formulated with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) by using the foam-templated approach (Patel, Schatteman, Lesaffer, & Dewettinck, 2013). Four CB/OG blends were prepared as CB substitutes (0% control), at replacement levels of 30, 50, 70 and 100%, and CB/OG-based chocolates (CB/OG-Ch) were formulated with each blend (100/0-Ch, 70/30-Ch, 50/50-Ch, 30/70-Ch and 0/100-Ch). Chocolates were characterized by dynamic (frequency sweep tests at 20 °C) and stationary (flow behavior and thixotropy at 5 s-1 at 40 °C) rheology and texture (penetration tests); in addition, a sensory analysis was performed and the lipid profile of chocolates was analyzed. Viscoelastic moduli evidenced that 100/0-Ch, 70/30-Ch and 50/50-Ch samples had similar internal structures with storage modulus close to 107 Pa. Both 30/70-Ch and 0/100-Ch, with higher percentage of CB replacement with the OG, had significantly lower viscoelastic moduli and displayed the highest Casson yield stresses. Sensory analysis showed that it would be possible to replace up to 70% of CB with the OG without negatively affecting the overall acceptability of the chocolates. As compared with 100/0-Ch, 50/50-Ch, 30/70-Ch and 0/100-Ch involved 37, 55 and 79% saturated fat reductions respectively, which are associated with lower risk of chronic degenerative diseases.