Milkfat in Sugar and Chocolate Confectionery

Summary

Chocolate can be improved in terms of gloss, shelf-life and flavour by use of milkfat and milk chocolate has been manufactured for well over 100 years. When blending milkfat, the palmitic acid content can be used as an indication of firmness and solids content.

Cocoa butter melts between 32 and 35°C and is predominantly composed of symmetrical triglycerides. A relationship exists between the triglyceride composition of cocoa butter and its solid fat content. About 80% of the worldwide consumption of chocolate consists of milk chocolate in which up to 30% of the fat is milkfat. Milkfat causes a softening effect in chocolate, and in its various commercial states can form eutectic mixtures with cocoa butter while hardly altering polymorphic behaviour.

Milkfat is used in chocolate as either milk powder or milk crumb. Roller dried powder has a more ‘cooked’ flavour than spray dried powder, and is coarser but easier to disperse. The use of milk crumb can have flavour/taste benefits over milk powder.

Fractionated milkfat may be regarded either as milkfat or a cocoa butter replacer, and assists in inhibiting bloom. Hydrogenated milkfat can also be of benefit. Interesterified milkfat appears to be more compatible with cocoa butter than unmodified milkfat, but lacks flavour. Other confectionery products such as toffee can be improved in flavour/taste terms by milkfat.

Analytical methods extend understanding of the mechanisms associated with fat incorporation in confectionery products and assist in defining safe levels of addition.