TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of chocolate making. More particularly, the invention relates to cocoa butter substitute composition for use in chocolate and chocolate like products.

BACKGROUND

Cocoa butter is usually the basic fat used in chocolate, but a range of vegetable fats are also well suited for this application. Cocoa butter equivalents (CBE) and cocoa butter substitutes (CBS) are vegetable fats that offer the chocolate manufacturer important savings in raw material costs without affecting the properties of the end product. CBE and CBS traditionally contains palm oil, palm mid-fractions, palm kernel oil and related products.

In the last few decades, palm oil has become one of the most important edible oils globally. Since it is solid at room temperature and its fractions deliver a wide range of functional melting profiles, palm oil has played an important role in the replacement of partially hydrogenated oils in food applications including production of chocolate, chocolate like products and chocolate confectionary. Palm oil has also been chosen because of its low level of trans fatty acids. However, for several years there has been a demand for food products free of palm oil for numerous reasons. One important reason for this is that palm oil contains a relatively higher level of 3-MCPD compared to liquid oils. 3-MCPD has for many years been suspected to be carcinogenic in humans and at least the European Union is working on further legislation regarding the 3-MCPD in food ingredients.

Several different CBS products exists on the market, however most of them still rely on palm oil or palm kernel oil. US3361568 relates to a hard butter composition which can be used as a substitute for cocoa butter. The oils can be palm oil and the oils are only partially hydrogenated and thus will contain trans fatty acids.

US3491677 relates to a chocolate product containing an anti-bloom agent that can replace an equivalent percentage of cocoa butter in the chocolate product. The anti-bloom agent contains palm kernel oil in one embodiment and the hydrogenation can be partially thereby containing trans fatty acids.

There is thus a need for a cocoa butter substitute which is free of palm oil in any form and still hold the required properties of a normal CBS, bringing reduced costs to food applications using cocoa butter, and at the same time keeping the level of trans fatty acids low and avoid any issues in relation to 3-MCPD. The present invention addresses such needs and interests.

SUMMARY

In one aspect the present invention relates to a cocoa butter substitute composition comprising a mixture of a Component A and a Component B, said Component A being a fully

hydrogenated oil containing less than 5% by weight C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids, and said Component B being an oil containing 40% by weight or more C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids, wherein the mixture of Component A and Component B is interesterified and wherein said composition does not contain palm oil or palm kernel oil. Further embodiments are wherein the cocoa butter substitute composition or any of its embodiments have been obtained utilizing chemical intersterification.

Further embodiments are wherein Component B is a fully hydrogenated oil.

Further embodiments are wherein Component B is a coconut oil.

Further embodiments are wherein the cocoa butter substitute composition or any of its embodiments have 5-30% by weight of Component A in the cocoa butter substitute composition.

Further embodiments are wherein the cocoa butter substitute composition or any of its embodiments have 70-95% by weight of Component B in the cocoa butter substitute composition. Further embodiments are wherein the cocoa butter substitute composition or any of its embodiments have Component A which is selected from the group consisting of fully hydrogenated soybean oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, shea oil or any other oil with less than 5% by weight C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids. Further embodiments are wherein the cocoa butter substitute composition or any of its embodiments have a Component B which is fractionated before mixing with Component A.

Further embodiments are wherein the Component B of said cocoa butter substitute composition or any of its embodiments is fractionated, wherein the fractionation used is dry or solvent fractionation. Further embodiments are wherein the interesterified mix of Component A and Component B is fractionated, wherein said fractionation used is dry or solvent fractionation.

Further aspects of the invention is wherein the cocoa butter substitute composition or any of its embodiments are used in the production of a confectionary product or bakery product.

Still further aspects of the invention is where the confectionary product is selected from the group consisting of chocolate tablets, chocolate bars, filled chocolate, chocolate coatings and fillings of biscuits and wafers.

In a still further aspect of the invention a bakery product is produced, wherein said bakery product is selected from the group consisting of wafers, pies, cakes, croissants, loaves, breadrolls, biscuits, cookies and puff pastries. Still further aspects of the invention is a method for producing a cocoa butter substitute composition, said method comprises the steps of: providing a Component A by fully hydrogenating an oil containing less than 5% by weigth of C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids,

optionally interesterifying said Component A,

- providing a Component B, said Component B being an oil with more than 40% by weight of C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids, optionally fully hydrogenating Component B, optionally interesterifying said Component B, mixing said component A and Component B to form a mix, interesterifying said mix of Component A and Component B optionally fractionating said interesterified mix of Component A and Component B to obtain said cocoa butter substitute composition and wherein said cocoa butter sunstitute composition does not contain palm oil or palm kernel oil or fractions thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Definitions

As used herein, the term“RBD treatment” is intended to mean an oil that has been Refined, Bleached and Deodorized. These are standard steps of an initial treatment of an oil known by a person skilled in the art. As used herein, the term“fatty acid” encompasses free fatty acids and fatty acyl residues in triglycerides.

As used herein“cocoa butter equivalent” (CBE) is intended to mean an edible fat having very similar physical properties and being compatible with cocoa butter without any significant effect on the behavior of the chocolate. In both cocoa butter and cocoa butter equivalent the fatty acids are typically palmitic, stearic and oleic acids and the triglycerides are typically 2- oleo di-saturated (SatOSat). In spite of their similarity to cocoa butter, cocoa butter equivalents can be detected in chocolate by their triglyceride ratios which are appreciably different from those in cocoa butter. Cocoa butter equivalents are e.g. made from a mix of palm mid fraction and a fractionated part of shea stearin. As used herein“cocoa butter improver” (CBI) is intended to mean a harder version (i.e. has a higher solid fat content) of cocoa butter equivalent due to a higher content of high melting triglycerides such as StOSt. It is usually used in chocolate formulations having a high content of milk fat or those meant for tropical climates. It improves the heat stability of soft cocoa butter varieties, adds more solid fat and thereby increases hardness in chocolate products. As used herein”a cocoa butter subsitute” (CBS) is intended to mean a lauric acid containing fat. CBS are a subgroup of what is known as cocoa butter replacers. CBS is chemically different to cocoa butter, but with some physical similiarities. CBS are fats that can be mixed with cocoa butter to a limited extent without significantly altering its melting, rheological and processing properties. CBS do not require tempering since they crystallize spontaneously in the stable b’ form. Traditionally, CBS is lauric based and contains palm oil, palm mid- fractions, palm kernel oil and related products.

As used herein“edible” is something that is suitable for use as food or as part of a food product, such as a dairy, confectionary, culinary, bakery or nutritional product. An edible fat is thus suitable for use as fat in food or food product, and an edible composition is a composition suitable for use in food or a food product, such as for example a confectionary, bakery, dairy, culinary or nutritional product.

The term“vegetable oil” is intended to mean an oil or fat originating from a plant. Thus, a vegetable fat or vegetable triglycerides are still to be understood as vegetable fat or oil or vegetable triglycerides after fractionation, hydrogenation and/or interesterification etc.

As used herein a“chocolate-like” product is meant as a product, which at least is experienced by the consumer as chocolate or as a confectionery product having sensorial attributes common with chocolate, such as e.g. melting profile, taste etc. Chocolate-like products include, but are not limited to, compounds. As used herein,“interesterification” should be understood as replacing one or more of the fatty acid moieties of a triglyceride with another fatty acid moiety or exchanging one or more fatty acid moieties from one triglyceride molecule to another. A fatty acid moiety may be understood as a free fatty acid, a fatty acid ester, a fatty acid anhydride, an activated fatty acid and/or the fatty acyl part of a fatty acid. The term‘interesterification’ as used herein may be used interchangeably with‘transesterification’. The interesterification process may be an enzymatic interesterification or chemical interesterification. Both chemical interesterification and enzymatic interesterification is described well in the art. Both chemical and enzymatic interesterification may be done by standard procedures.

As used herein,“hydrogenation” should be understood as the process of modifying fat consistency and improving the shelf life of the fat by saturating the double bonds. By adding hydrogen to the double bonds of the fatty acid chains, oil can be transformed from an unsaturated to a saturated state.

In the present invention the term“fully hydrogenated” is used. When an oil is described in the present invention to be fully hydrogenated, this term should be understood as the situation where the hydrogenation process has been allowed to run to completion leaving the oil fully saturated and without any trans double bonds. This is indicated to be achieved when the resulting oil has an Iodine Value (IV) of less than 4 and the amount of trans fatty acid is less than l%wt of the total fatty acid content in the oil. As used herein,“oil” and“fat” is used interchangeably, unless otherwise specified. As used herein, the term“triglycerides” may be used interchangeably with the term

‘triacylglycerides’ and should be understood as an ester derived from glycerol and three fatty acids.“Triglycerides” may be abbreviated TG or TAG.

As used herein,“%” or“percentage” all relates to weight percentage i.e. wt% or wt-% if nothing else is indicated. As used herein, the singular forms“a”,“an” and“the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

As used herein,“at least one” is intended to mean one or more, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc.

As used here, the term“and/or” is intended to mean the combined (“and”) and the exclusive (“or”) use, i.e.“A and/or B” is intended to mean“A alone, or B alone, or A and B together”.

For example in the context“02 and/or shorter chain fatty acids” it is thus intended to mean the amount of“C12 alone” or the amount of“shorter chain fatty acids alone” or the amount of “Cl 2 and shorter chain fatty s acids together”.

As used herein, the term“02” is intended to mean triglycerides wherein the fatty acid moiety is a lauric acid when refering to fatty acids contents of oil. It does not refer to free fatty acids, but to the fatty acids composition obtained by analysis after methylation (IUPAC 2.301) followed by analysis by Gas chromatography (IUPAC 2.304).

As used herein, the term“shorter chain fatty acids” is intended to mean triglycerides wherein the fatty acid moiety is shorter than 02, i.e. C10 (capric acid), C8 (caprylic acid) and/or C6 (caproic acid) when refering to fatty acids contents of oil. As described herein above it does not refer to free fatty acids, but to the fatty acids composition obtained by analysis after methylation (IUPAC 2.301) followed by analysis by Gas chromatography (IUPAC 2.304).

As used herein, the term“Cl 8” is intended to mean triglycerides wherein the fatty acid moiety is a stearic acid when refering to fatty acids contents of oil. It does not refer to free fatty acids, but to the fatty acids composition obtained by analysis after methylation (IUPAC 2.301) followed by analysis by Gas chromatography (IUPAC 2.304).

As used herein, the term“refining” is intended to mean the process of refining, which includes one or more steps of refining, such as at least a step of deodorization combined with one or more steps of washing and bleaching of the oil. Refining is well known in the art and the purpose of refining is to remove any unwanted impurities and base components from the oil rendering it edible and suitable for human and animal consumption.

As revealed above, there is provided a cocoa butter substitute composition, herein also called cocoa butter replacer. The cocoa butter substitute composition is according to the invention provided by a Component B mixed with a fully hydrogenated Component A. The mixture is interesterified. Said cocoa butter substitute composition has physical properties similar to cocoa butter and may be used to replace cocoa butter in all applications, where cocoa butter is otherwise used. Further examples are given herein.

The cocoa butter substitute composition (CBS) of the invention may be used in a food product such as a bakery or confectionary product, eg. in a chocolate or chocolate-like product including but not limited to a compound, but also in a dairy, culinary or a nutritional product.

It has surprisingly been found that it is possible to obtain a CBS by mixing Component A being a fully hydrogenated oil containing less than 5% by weight of C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids with a Component B being an oil containing 40% by weight or more C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids, and wherein said obtained CBS does not contain palm oil or palm kernel oil, and get the same sensory properties in the final chocolate-like product as would have been achieved if a standard CBS based on palm oil or palm kernel oil was used. Further, it was also found that apart from preserving the sensory properties, other properties was improved like texture, giving a product with a better or comparable hardness profile as well as better heat stability for the final product. This means that the shelf life of the final product can be expected to be improved, which is a further benefit of the present invention. Further the cocoa butter substitute composition (CBS) comprises 5-30wt% of a Component A selected from the group consisting of an oil containing less than 5% by weight C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids. An oil containing less than 5% by weight C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids within this invention is selected from the group consisting of soybean oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, shea oil or any other oil meeting this criteria after said hydrogenation.

In one preferred embodiment the oil containing less than 5% by weight C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids is fully hydrogenated soybean oil.

In another preferred embodiment the oil containing less than 5% by weight C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids is fully hydrogenated sunflower oil.

In another preferred embodiment the oil containing less than 5% by weight C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids is fully hydrogenated rapeseed oil.

In yet another preferred embodiment the oil containing less than 5% by weight C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids is fully hydrogenated shea olein.

In one embodiment the oil containing less than 5% by weight C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids is a mixture of one or more fully hydrogenated soybean oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil and shea oil.

In one embodiment Component A comprises at least 70% by weight of C18.

In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 5-27 wt% of Component A, such as 5-25wt%, such as 5-20 wt%, such as 5-15 wt%. In another embodiment the CBS comprises 10-30 wt% of Component A, such as 12-30 wt%, such as 15-30 wt%, such as 20-30 wt%, such as 25-30 wt%.

Further the cocoa butter substitute composition (CBS) comprises 70-95 wt% of Component B said component B being an oil containing 40% by weight or more C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids. In one embodiment Component B comprises coconut oil or fractions thereof. In another embodiment Component B comprises fully hydrogenated coconut oil or fractions thereof. In a preferred embodiment Component B is fully hydrogenated coconut oil. In one embodiment the CBS comprises 70-90 wt% of Component B, such as 70-88 wt%, such as 70- 85 wt%, such as 70-80 wt%, such as 70-75 wt%, such as 70-72 wt%. In another embodiment the CBS comprises 73-95 wt% of Component B, such as 75-95 wt%, such as 80-95 wt%, such as 85-95 wt%. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 5-27 wt% of Component A and 73-95 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 5-25 wt% of Component A and 75-95 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 5-20wt% of Component A and 80-95 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 5-15 wt% of Component A and 85-95 wt% of Component B.

In another embodiment the CBS comprises 10-30 wt% of Component A and 70-90 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 12-30 wt% of Component A and 70-88 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 15-30 wt% of Component A and 70-85 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 20-30 wt% of Component A and 70-80 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 25-30 wt% of Component A and 70-75 wt% of Component B.

In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 10 wt% of Component A and 90 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 20 wt% of Component A and 80 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS comprises 30 wt% of Component A and 70 wt% of Component B.

In a further embodiment the CBS consists of l0wt% of Component A and 90 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS consists of 20 wt% of component A and 80 wt% of Component B. In a further embodiment the CBS consist of 30 wt% of Component A and 70 wt% of Component B.

In further embodiments the combination of Component A and Component B will add up to or at least not exceed l00wt% of the CBS.

In one embodiment the CBS further comprises one or more additives selected from the group consisting of a colourant, a flavor, an emulsifier, a preservative, a sweetener and an antioxidant. All amounts of such one or more additives are minor, such as below 5 wt% of the CBS, such as 0.001 to 5 wt%, such as 0.001 to 4 wt%, such as 0.001 to 3 wt%, such as 0.001 to 2 wt%, such as 0.001 to 1 wt% or even 0.001 to 0.5 wt% or 0.001 to 0.1 wt% or 0.001 to 0.01 wt%. In total, the amount of Component A and Component B together with the optional colourant, a flavor, an emulsifier, and an antioxidant will add up to or at least not exceed 100 wt% of the CBS.

Another aspect of the present invention is an edible product comprising the cocoa butter substitute composition of the invention and all its embodiments in an amount of 0.1- 99.9 wt% of said edible product, such as 20 - 75 wt%, or 30 - 60 wt%, 5 - 40 wt%, 0.1 - 30 wt%,

0.1 - 25 wt%, 0.1 - 20 wt%, or even 0.1 - 10 wt% of said edible product.

Further embodiments are wherein the edible product and all its embodiments further comprises

one or more filler in an amount of 0.1 - 85 wt% of said edible product - water in an amount of 0 - 20 wt% by weight of said edible product.

Amounts of further ingredients, such as filler and water, may vary depending on its specific application; however, such amounts are well known for someone skilled in the art of e.g. confectionary, bakery, nutritional, dairy, and culinary applications and should, of course, amount up to 100% in combination with the cocoa butter substitute composition.

Further embodiments of the edible food product and all its embodiments are wherein the one or more filler material selected from the group consisting of sugar, flour, starch, skimmed milk powder, whole milk powder, whey powder, cocoa powder, coffee powder, food grade organic solid powders, food grade inorganic solid powders, and blends thereof.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the edible product produced using the CBS of the invention includes at least one emulsifier in the amount of 3 wt% or less based on the total weight of the edible product, preferably 2 wt% or less, such as 1 wt% or less. The emulsifier may be selected from the group consisting of monoglyceride, diglycerides and triglyceride mixtures of saturated fatty acids, sucrose esters, sorbitan esters, sorbitan-triesters of stearate and/or palmitate, polyglycerol and polyglycerol esters and any combination thereof. In one preferred embodiment, the emulsifier used is lecithin.

Examples of edible products according to the invention or any of its embodiments may be any edible product which normally comprises cocoa butter such as for example edible products within confectionary applications, dairy applications, and bakery applications, and culinary applications, such as for example a coating, a tablet, a praline without a filling, a molded bar, a chocolate like coating such as a compound coating, a chocolate coating, a chocolate, a chocolate like product such as a compound. In another aspect the invention relates to a food product such as a confectionary product, a bakery product, a dairy product, a culinary product or a nutritional product comprising the cocoa butter substitute or any of its embodiments or the edible product or any of its embodiments. Examples of a food product are wherein the edible food product is a chocolate, a chocolate like product, a filled chocolate product, extruded products with an interior filling, a baked product, a biscuit, a cookie, baked products with a filling or a coating, a coating, filled or coated confectionery products, filled or coated culinary products, a nutritional liquid, a nutritional drink or a nutritional paste. A confectionary food products may for example be filled chocolate-like products, such as chocolate bars, pralines, filled and/or coated bars, extruded fillings with or without coating, coatings, such as compound chocolate coatings, or chocolate-like coatings. Examples of bakery food products are for example filled or coated wafers, pies, cakes, croissants, loaves, breadrolls, puff pastries a coated biscuit, a biscuit with a cream layer wherein the cream layer as such may optionally be further coated with a coating, a biscuit having a cream layer sandwiched between two or more biscuit layers etc.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the CBS is used in a compound chocolate coating, the compound chocolate composition does not need tempering.

The cocoa butter substitute composition according to the present invention does not contain palm oil or palm kernel oil. In the present invention this means that there is no amount of oil present which originate from either palm or palm kernel, i.e. 0 wt% of palm or palm kernel oil is present in the cocoa butter substitute composition. The invention relates in an even further aspect to a method for producing a cocoa butter substitute composition or any of its embodiments, said method comprises the steps of providing a Component A by fully hydrogenating an oil or oil fraction containing less than 5% by weight of C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids,

providing a Component B, said Component B being an oil or oil fraction with more than 40% by weight of C12 and/or shorter fatty acids,

mixing said Component A and Component B to form a mix

interesterifying the mix to obtain said cocoa butter substitute composition and wherein said cocoa butter substitute composition does not contain palm oil or palm kernel oil or fractions thereof.

The Component A and/or the Component B may be interesterified either before or after mixing. Thus, the Component A and the Component B may be provided and interesterified separately, before mixing with each other and interesterifying the mixture. Further embodiments are wherein the Component A and the Component B is mixed together and then interesterified.

In one embodiment the Component A is interesterified, mixed with the Component B and the mixture of the two is then subjected to interesterification.

In another embodiment the Component B is interesterified, mixed with the Component A and the mixture of the two is then subjected to interesterification.

In another embodiment both the Component A and the Component B is interesterified separately, mixed together and the mixture of the two is then subjected to yet another step of interesterification.

The invention relates in an even further aspect to a method for producing a cocoa butter substitute composition or any of its embodiments, said method comprises the steps of providing a Component A by fully hydrogenating an oil containing less than 5% by weigth of C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids,

optionally interesterifying said Component A,

providing a Component B, said Component B being an oil with more than 40% by weight of C12 and/or shorter chain fatty acids, optionally fully hydrogenating Component B, - optionally interesterifying said Component B, mixing said component A and Component B to form a mix, interesterifying said mix of Component A and Component B optionally fractionating said interesterified mix of Component A and Component B to obtain said cocoa butter substitute composition and wherein said cocoa butter sunstitute composition does not contain palm oil or palm kernel oil or fractions thereof.

In one embodiment the invention relates to an edible cocoa butter substitute. This is achieved by subjecting the cocoa butter substitute or any of its embodiments to at least one step(s) of refining comprising at least a step of deodorization combined with one or more step(s) of washing, and bleaching of said cocoa butter substitute to obtain an edible cocoa butter substitute composition.

Solid fat content (SFC)

Solid Fat Content (SFC) determination is of prime importance for food processing and development. Raw materials like fat compositions or blends need to be characterized and controlled according to their melting profiles. The SFC determination by time domain (TD) NMR analysis is the internationally recognized standard method. The IUPAC 2.150 method, which is a serial pulse analysis for non-temper fats or other equivalent methods, may be used.

The SFC profile describes the amount of solid phase compared to liquid phase at a given temperature.

The aim in the preparation of a fat blend according to the invention is to achieve a SFC which is“high” at 20 degrees Celcius, herein“high” shall be defined as a SFC higher than 50% at 20 degrees Celcius. At the same time the SFC cannot be“too high” at 35 degrees Celcius, which herein shall be defined as a SFC lower than 20% at 35 degrees Celcius. If the above is achieved the resulting fat blend will be solid at room temperature, however it will melt easily when ingested in a food product and hence will not interfere with the sensoric properties of the food product.

In one embodiment the SFC at 20 degrees Celcius is higher than 60%, such as higher than 65%.

In one embodiment the SFC at 35 degrees Celcius is lower than 15%, such as lower than 10%. In a preferred embodiment the SFC at 20 degrees Celcius is higher than 65% and the SFC at 35 degrees Celcius is lower than 10%.

Fractionation Fractionation of oils and fats is a process well known within the field. Fractionation involves the splitting of oil into parts, or fractions, that comprise different triglycerides. These fractions can be used to produce tailor-made fats or to supply specific pure components. To achieve this, the oil is subjected to controlled cooling, causing the high-melting triglycerides to crystalize. The crystals are then seperated from the liquid fraction by filtering. As used herein, the term“fraction” is intended to mean a product of a fractionation process. The fractionation product, i.e. the fraction, may or may not be further treated in various other ways. However, it is to be understood that if a certain fraction undergoes a further

fractionation, two new, separate fractions are obtained. In other words, when a fraction is subjected to a further fractionation, the original fraction ceases to exist, whereas the two new, separate fractions have replaced it. In one embodiment of the invention the coconut oil is fractionated in one or more steps and the coconut stearin fraction and/or the coconut middle fraction is used.

As used herein, the term“solvent fractionation” is intended to mean fractionation performed using solvents, such as e.g. hexane, used to disperse the crystals of the solid fraction in or to flush the liquid part of the oil out.

As used herein, the term“dry fractionation” is intended to mean a fractionation without the use of a solvent.

EXAMPLES

Example 1

Obtaining Component A and Component B The Component A and Component B applied in the following examples were produced in conventional way by RBD treatment, followed by a hydrogenation until no unsaturated fatty acids were present (less than 1%). For a reference of fat processing and RBD treatment see Ralph E. Timms (2003)“Confectionery fats handbook: Properties, Production and

application”, The Oily Press , page 105-130. Several different oils could be applied as also described herein above, but the examples are based on the following:

Component B 1 : fully hydrogenated coconut oil

Component Al : fully hydrogenated rapeseed oil

Component A2: fully hydrogenated shea olein Component A3 : fully hydrogenated soy bean oil

Example 2

Randomisation of Component A and Component B by chemical interesterfication to obtain a non-palm fat suitable for confectionery application. Three fat mixtures of Component Al and Component B 1 were prepared and called Fat 1, Fat 2, and Fat 3 (Table 1). Solid fat content (SFC) of the mixtures were measured according to IUPAC method 2.150a (serial Tl pulse). Afterwards the mixtures were fully interesterified (RX) by addition of sodium methoxide under vacuum. The SFC of the interesterified mixtures were measured (Table 1). After interesterification most of the fats had an increase in ST1 pulse at 20°C and a lowering of the ST pulse at 35°C, these were deemed to be the important factors for an application in confectionery product. In all examples the pulse at 20°C was higher than 55% and the pulse at 35°C lower than 16%. Hence, all of the fats were suitable for chocolate application.

Table 1 - Interesterfication of Component A and Component B

Conclusion

As can be seen from Table 1, it is possible to retain a high ST1 pulse at 20°C after interesterfication and lower the ST1 pulse at 35°C. For Fat 1 the ST1 pulse at 20°C is lowered from 63.5% to 55.6% after the interesterfication, however the ST1 pulse at 35°C is below 0.5% after interesterfication. When including more component A in the fat (Fat 2) the ST1 pulse at 20°C is slightly raised after interesterfication from 67.1% to 68.2%, whereas the ST1 pulse at 35°C is significantly lowered from 24.7% to 7%. Fat 3, which is the fat comprising the most Component A, also shows this tendency, as the ST1 pulse at 20°C was raised from 70.7% to 72.1% and the ST1 pulse at 35°C was lowered from 35.6% to 15%.

To summarize, adding more Component A gives a harder product due to the increase in ST1 pulse at 20°C, whereas a higher pulse at 35°C is also observed. To reach a high ST1 pulse at 20°C and a low ST pulse at 35°C at Component A level between 10-30% is desired. To see if the invention worked with other Component A, trials with two different Component A were conducted. The SFC of the mixtures was measured before and after the

interesterfication (Table 2). As can be seen from the below table these fats also showed applicable characteristics. Table 2 - Application of different hard stocks

Conclusion As can be seen in Table 2 it is also possible to use another Component A for this invention. For Fat 4 a Component A based on shea olein was used in 20%wt. The ST1 pulse at 20°C went slightly down from 62.5% to 58.8% and the ST1 pulse at 35°C fell significantly from 21.2% to 3.7%. For Fat 5 a Component A based on soy bean was used. The ST1 pulse at 20°C went slightly down from 67.9% to 67.2% and the ST1 pulse at 35°C was reduced significantly from 23.5% to 6.6%. Both of these results were deemed similar to that of fat 2 and showed high ST1 pulse at 20°C and a low ST1 pulse at 35°C.

Example 3 Application of fats in compound for confectionery use.

To demonstrate the application in confection, Fat 2 was tested in a standard recipe for a dark compound (Table 3) and used for the coating of biscuits to demonstrate the applicability of the fats in confectionery product. The fat was compared to a standard cocoa butter substitute fat (reference). Two dark compounds based on Fat 2 or the reference fat each with 1.5% of STS (sorbitan tristearate) were also produced. Two standard cooling conditions were applied to the four different compounds (Table 4 and 5). Fat 2 showed good ability as a fat for confectionery use. The compound obtained from all the fats was fast crystallizing and easily packable independent of the cooling conditions. Furthermore, they all provided a good texture. Hence, Fat 2 was comparable to a traditional palm-based confectionery fat. Table 3 - Recipe for dark compound

Table 4 - Test of dark compound at fast cooling conditions

Table 5 - Test of dark compound at moderate cooling conditions