JP2017184666A - Manufacturing method of hard butter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method for manufacturing a hard butter less in SU2 and UUU contents and having concentrated SUS (1,3-di-saturated-2 mono-unsaturated triglyceride) at high efficiency.SOLUTION: The problem is solved by a manufacturing method of a hard butter including a first dry separation process for sweating a crystal part obtained by a crystallization slurry manufactured by cold crystallization of a palm-based oil and fat containing SSS (tri-saturated triglyceride) of 0.7 to 2.0 mass% to obtain sweated stearin and then a second dry separation process for further separating the sweated stearin obtained in the first dry separation process to obtain a low melting point fraction with concentrated SUS (1,3-di-saturated-2 mono-unsaturated triglyceride).SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing hard butter having a low SU2, UUU content and enriched with SUS (1,3-disaturated-2 monounsaturated triglyceride).

When eating a confectionery such as chocolate or cream, one of the most important textures is good meltability.
One of the factors affecting the solubility of these foods in mouth is SUS (1,3 saturated-2 monounsaturated triglyceride) contained in hard butter. Hard butter containing SUS at a high concentration shows a property of rapidly melting near body temperature. In particular, it is known that a large amount of SUS is contained in cacao butter, iripe fat and palm oil.

  However, vegetable oils and fats, such as cacao butter and iripe fat, which contain about 80 to 95% by mass of SUS alone and can be sufficiently hard butter, are small in production and expensive, and the yield varies greatly. There was a problem to do. Therefore, compared to cocoa butter and iripe fat, although the SUS content is as low as 22 to 60% by mass, the production of hard butter using palm oil, which is widely produced as an oil resource plant and stably obtained, has been performed so far. I have been.

  By the way, since fats and oils are a mixture of various triglycerides, when manufacturing the hard butter which uses palm oil, it is common to fractionate in order to obtain the target fat and oil component.

Particularly in the production of hard butter, a high melting point fraction containing a large amount of SSS (tri-saturated triglyceride) or a low melting point containing a large amount of SU2 (mono-saturated-diunsaturated triglyceride) and UUU (tri-unsaturated triglyceride). It is important to remove the fraction by fractionation and obtain a medium melting point fraction containing a lot of SUS with high purity.
As a method of fractionation, after heating and dissolving the fats and oils, partially crystallizing them, the crystalline part and the liquid part are separated by filtration or the like, and the fractionation of the fats and oils is performed. Solvent fractionation using fractionation and surfactant fractionation using a surfactant to separate crystal and liquid portions have been known and used.
Of these, dry sorting is safer than other sorting methods, and equipment and operating costs are low, so it is frequently used.

However, the dry fractionation method has a problem that the purity and yield of the target oil and fat component are likely to be low.
This is because the crystals produced by dry fractionation are formed by agglomeration of fine crystals into a spherical shape, so that during the crystallization process, a liquid part is included inside the crystal, or a liquid part remains in the gap or surface of the crystal. This is presumed to be easy to do. (Non-Patent Document 1)

  For this reason, in the production of hard butter and the like, generally, the high melting point fraction and the low melting point fraction of fats and oils are removed by a two-stage dry fractionation step to obtain a middle melting point fraction. Only through the dry fractionation process has the above-mentioned problems, and the liquid part cannot be sufficiently removed.

  Therefore, in order to obtain a high-purity crystal part when separating fats and oils by dry fractionation, only the target triglyceride component is selectively crystallized, and in the crystal part separation step, the liquid part is separated into the crystal part. It is important to minimize contamination.

  Here, an operation called sweating is known as a method for suppressing the mixing of the liquid part into the crystal part. Sweating is an operation of heating a crystal part to dissolve a part of the crystal and removing a liquid part remaining inside the crystal or between the crystals to increase crystal purity.

As a prior art relating to the production of hard butter using both perspiration and dry fractionation, for example, in Patent Document 1, oils and fats are heated and dissolved, then cooled and crystallized, and separated into crystal part 1 and liquid part 1 as a crystallization slurry. A method for dry separation of fats and oils is disclosed, wherein the obtained crystal part 1 is perspired while being squeezed and separated into a crystal part 2 and a liquid part 2.
However, in the method of Patent Document 1, liquid part components such as SSS, SU2, and UUU are likely to remain in the obtained fractionated fats and oils, and it has been difficult to obtain fats and oils with sufficiently high SUS purity.

Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose a dry fractionation method in which a part of a crystal fraction obtained by fractionation is subjected to a temperature raising operation to sweat and then pressed and filtered.
However, in the method of Patent Document 2, since the structure of the fat and oil crystals is weakened by heating, it is easily collapsed by the subsequent pressing operation, the filterability is extremely poor, and sufficient solid-liquid separation after sweating is difficult. there were. In addition, when dry fractionation is further performed on the obtained crystal part and liquid part to obtain a middle melting point part, in addition to the poor separation efficiency as described above, the first fractionation process must be completed after the separation is completed. Since it was not possible to shift to the second separation step, the time efficiency was also poor.
Moreover, although the method of patent document 3 can remove a trisaturated triglyceride, it cannot fully reduce the liquid part containing many SU2, UUU, etc., and it fractionates again in order to obtain S2U with high purity. Because it is necessary, it was a method with low separation efficiency and manufacturing efficiency.

WO2006 / 112347 JP 2004-123839 A WO2005 / 028601

Supervised by Kiyotaka Sato “Fatery Handbook for Confectionery” Koshobo, February 14, 2010, p116-117

  In the technology that has been studied in the past, even in the hard butter manufacturing method by dry fractionation combined with sweating operation, liquid part components such as SU2 and UUU are likely to remain, so the separation process is not sufficient, and only the SUS component is present. There was a problem that it was difficult to obtain efficiently and with high purity.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventors of the present invention focused on SSS (tri-saturated triglyceride) in the oil and fat raw material used for the production of hard butter and proceeded with intensive studies. As a result, conventionally, in the production of hard butter, in view of the influence on the performance and production efficiency of hard butter, among the triglycerides in the fat and oil raw material, the fat and oil raw material with sufficiently reduced SSS has been used. In addition, it has been found that the ratio of β prime type crystals with less liquid part mixing is superior in the oil and fat raw material having SSS in a certain range.
Based on this knowledge, when hard butter was manufactured using raw materials whose SSS content was increased within a certain range, contrary to conventional technical common sense, crystals with little mixing of liquid parts containing a lot of SU2 and UUU were obtained, and SUS was obtained. Found that hard butter that is more highly concentrated than the prior art can be obtained with higher efficiency.

  This invention is based on the said knowledge, The crystal | crystallization part obtained from the crystallization slurry prepared by cooling and crystallizing the palm oil containing SSS (trisaturated triglyceride) 0.7-2.0 mass% is used. A first dry fractionation step for sweating to obtain sweat stearin and a low SUS (1,3-disaturated-2-monounsaturated triglyceride) concentrated by further fractionating the sweaty stearin obtained in the first dry fractionation step The above-mentioned problems are solved by a method for producing hard butter comprising a second dry fractionation step for obtaining a melting point fraction.

  According to the method for producing hard butter of the present invention, it is possible to more efficiently produce a hard butter having a low content of SU2, UUU and a high concentration of S2U, from a palm-based fat having a relatively low S2U content. .

First, palm oils and fats used in the present invention will be described.
The palm oil used in the present invention contains 0.7 to 2.0% by mass, preferably 0.8 to 1.3% by mass of SSS (tri-saturated triglyceride). When the SSS content is less than 0.7% by mass, the crystal form of the crystals in the crystallization slurry is likely to be predominantly β-type, and liquid part components such as SU2 and UUU are likely to be mixed into the hard butter obtained by separation. Absent. In addition, when the SSS content is more than 2.0% by mass, the liquid part component is suppressed from being mixed into the crystal part during the cooling crystallization process, but the filtration efficiency is reduced, which is not preferable.

  Moreover, it is preferable that palm oil fat used by this invention is 35-50 mass% in S2U content, and it is still more preferable that it is 40-50 mass%. When the S2U content is less than 35% by mass, a large amount of SU2 or UUU may be easily contained in the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step, which is not preferable.

  As the palm-based fats and oils used in the present invention, palm oil and processed fats and oils subjected to one or more physical or chemical treatments such as hydrogenation and fractionation of palm oil are used alone. Or it can use suitably combining 2 or more types.

  About the method which makes the SSS content in palm oil and fat the said range, although the method by the adjustment of the fractionation condition of palm oil, hydrogenation, or the condition of transesterification may be sufficient, the S2U content in palm oil and fat is made the said range. In addition, since it is easy to make the SUS content in S2U contained in the palm-based fats and oils within the following range, among the palm-based fats and oils, Palm oil with high SSS content or partially hydrogenated oil of palm oil, extremely hydrogenated oil, fractionated hard part oil, transesterified oil, fractionated hard part oil of transesterified oil can be obtained. The method by adding so that the SSS content in palm oil fat may become the above-mentioned range is preferable. Especially, since the yield of fractionation becomes high, palm oil and / or palm fractionated hard part oil is added to palm soft part oil and adjusted so that the SSS content in the obtained palm oil fat is in the above range. A method is more preferable, and a method of adding palm oil to palm soft part oil and adjusting is most preferable.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the SUS content in S2U is 80-90 mass%, and, as for the palm-type fat used by this invention, it is still more preferable that it is 82-88 mass%. When the SUS content in S2U of palm oil is less than 80% by mass, the content of SSU (1,2 saturated-3 unsaturated triglycerides) contained in the low melting point fraction in the second dry fractionation step increases, and SUS May not be sufficiently concentrated. Further, if it exceeds 90% by mass, it is difficult to prepare a crystallization slurry and to separate the liquid part. In addition, palm oil and fat with low SUS content in S2U is used as raw oil and fat. However, it does not meet the object of the present invention to efficiently obtain a high hard butter.

Next, the first dry fractionation process of the present invention will be described. In the first dry fractionation step, a high melting point fraction (crystal part) in the palm oil and fat is obtained by fractionation, and sweating stearin is obtained by sweating the high melting point fraction.
In the present invention, “sweating stearin” refers to a high-melting-point fraction of palm oil and fat, which is obtained through a sweating operation.

  In the first dry fractionation step, first, the palm oil and fat are dissolved. Although the temperature which melt | dissolves palm type fats and oils changes with palm type fats and oils to be used, there will be no restriction | limiting in particular if palm type fats and oils are heat-dissolved enough so that the trace of a crystal | crystallization or solid fat may not remain. Specifically, the heating dissolution temperature and the dissolution time are 60 ° C. or more and 30 minutes or more, preferably 70 ° C. or more and 30 minutes or more. There are no particular restrictions on the upper limit of the heating and melting temperature and the melting time, but it is sufficient that the heating temperature is 90 ° C. or less and 90 minutes or less.

Next, the fully dissolved palm oil is cooled and crystallized to obtain a crystallization slurry. The crystallization slurry may have a crystal amount (solid fat content (SFC)) at the crystallization temperature of 1 to 65% by mass, in order to obtain a crystal part in which the residual amount of the low melting point fraction is reduced. Is a crystallization slurry having a crystal content at a crystallization temperature of more than 21% by mass, preferably 22% by mass or more, more preferably 23% by mass or more. When the crystallized amount of the crystallization slurry is 21% by mass or less, the S2U component as the target component is not sufficiently crystallized, and the S2U concentration in the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step is lowered. This is not preferable because of fear.
Further, the upper limit of the amount of crystals of the crystallization slurry is preferably 28% by mass or less, more preferably 27% by mass or less. When the amount of crystals exceeds 28% by mass, although the crystal component increases, the S2U concentration becomes thin and the quality of the hard butter obtained by the production method of the present invention may be deteriorated.

  The crystals of the crystallization slurry prepared in the first dry fractionation step of the invention preferably contain β prime crystals. When the crystals in the crystallization slurry contain only β-type crystals without containing β-prime type crystals, liquid fats are often embraced in the gaps and inside of the crystals, and the low melting point image obtained in the second dry fractionation step The SUS content in the minute may not be sufficiently increased, which is not preferable. Similarly, when fractionating through the crystallization slurry in the second dry fractionation step, a fraction enriched in SUS having higher purity can be obtained by including β prime type crystals.

  It can be determined by an X-ray diffractometer whether the fat crystal contains a β prime type crystal. Specifically, when the short face spacing of the fat crystal is measured in the range of 2θ: 17 to 26 degrees, a diffraction peak corresponding to a face spacing of 4.5 to 4.7 mm is detected, and 4.1 When a diffraction peak corresponding to the inter-plane spacing of ˜4.3 Å and 3.8 to 3.9 Å is not detected, it is determined that the crystal is composed only of β-type crystals and does not contain β prime-type crystals. If a diffraction peak corresponding to an interplanar spacing of 4.1 to 4.3 Å and 3.8 to 3.9 Å is detected and a diffraction peak corresponding to an interplanar spacing of 4.5 to 4.7 Å is not detected, It is judged that the crystal is composed of only β prime type crystal and does not contain β type crystal. If both a diffraction peak corresponding to a face spacing of 4.5 to 4.7 and a diffraction peak corresponding to a face spacing of 4.1 to 4.3 and 3.8 to 3.9 are detected, the crystal is It is judged to contain β-type crystals and β-prime type crystals. When β-type crystal and β-prime type crystal are mixed in the crystal, the ratio of peak intensity 1 corresponding to 4.1 to 4.3 Å and peak intensity 2 corresponding to 4.5 to 4.7 （(peak The intensity 1 / peak intensity 2) is preferably 0.5 or more, and more preferably 0.9 or more.

  The fat and oil crystals contained in the crystallization slurry are preferably those in which fine crystals aggregate to form a sphere, and are preferably substantially composed of crystals having a particle size of 120 to 1000 μm. That is, in the particle size distribution (volume basis), 99% or more of the crystals are preferably spherical with a diameter of 120 to 1000 μm, more preferably 200 to 1000 μm. At this time, crystals with a diameter of less than 120 μm The content is preferably 1% by mass or less, and more preferably, it does not contain crystals having a diameter of less than 120 μm. If crystals having a diameter of less than 120 μm are present in excess of 1%, it may be difficult to increase the SUS content of the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step. The crystal grain size of the crystallization slurry is measured according to a conventional method using a particle size distribution meter or the like.

  The cooling method for cooling and crystallizing the dissolved palm oil and fat to obtain a crystallization slurry is not particularly limited as long as it is a cooling crystallization method used for dry fractionation. For example, (1) a method for cooling and crystallizing the dissolved palm oil and fat while stirring, (2) a method for cooling and crystallizing the dissolved palm oil and fat while standing, and (3) the dissolved palm oil and fat. (4) A method of cooling and crystallizing the above-mentioned dissolved palm oil and fat in a state of standing, and then fluidizing by mechanical stirring. Can be mentioned.

  In addition, when the above-mentioned palm-based fats and oils are cooled by standing or stirring to produce crystals, the cooling temperature may be lowered in a multistage manner from the beginning to the end of the cooling step, or continuously lowered. Also good. In this case, “lowering in multiple stages” means that the aging step described below is performed once or twice or more during cooling to the final temperature.

  The cooling temperature and time of the dissolved palm oil and fat are not particularly limited as long as the SFC of the crystallization slurry in the first dry fractionation step is within the above range, but the palm oil and fat used in the present invention is not limited. Is cooled to 15-19 ° C. over 30 minutes to 30 hours, and the temperature is maintained for 30 minutes to 80 hours, preferably 1 to 70 hours. A range of SFCs can be satisfied.

In addition, in cooling and crystallization of palm-based fats and oils, when completely dissolved palm-based fats and oils are cooled to the SFC in the above range, the completely-dissolved palm-based fats and oils may be rapidly cooled. In some cases, the SFC may be adjusted to the above range by combining them, but the separation of the crystal part and the liquid part of the obtained crystallization slurry is facilitated and obtained in the first dry fractionation step. In order to improve the yield of the crystal part to be produced, it is preferable to slowly cool the palm oil and fat in a temperature range of 35 ° C. or lower and where the crystal starts to appear in the dissolved palm oil and fat.
In the present invention, when the palm-based fats and oils are rapidly cooled, the cooling rate is preferably 5 ° C./h or more, more preferably 5 to 40 ° C./h. The speed is preferably less than 3.5 ° C / h, more preferably 0.3 to 3.0 ° C / h.

Further, in the temperature range where crystals of 35 ° C. or less begin to appear, ripening of the crystals produced by cooling once or twice or more in the process of cooling the palm oil to a temperature at which a suitable SFC in the above range is obtained. You may perform a process. The crystal ripening step in the present invention refers to an operation of making a crystal more uniform and at the same time further promoting crystallization so that the crystal part and the liquid part are easily separated by filtration.
Specifically, in the present invention, the temperature is constant at a temperature of 10 to 30 ° C., preferably 15 to 25 ° C., that is, a fluctuation of less than 0.3 ° C./h, preferably 0.1 ° C./h. It is mentioned that palm oils and fats are held for 30 minutes to 80 hours in a state where the fluctuation is suppressed to less than 30%. The upper limit of the number of aging steps is not particularly limited, but is usually 5 times, preferably 4 times.

  The cooling crystallization conditions are appropriately adjusted according to the composition of the palm-based fats and oils to be subjected to cooling crystallization. As preferable cooling crystallization conditions, for example, 35 to 20 ° C. from a state in which the palm-based fats and oils are completely dissolved. Cooling crystallization conditions that undergo one or two or more aging steps are preferred until the crystallization slurry is obtained at 15 to 19 ° C. after rapid cooling to reach 1 to 2 hours. In addition, it is preferable that the temperature transition between each aging process is performed by slow cooling.

  In the present invention, adding a seed crystal or a seed agent to the palm-based oil or fat at the start or during the cooling crystallization can suppress the formation of crystals having a diameter of less than 120 μm in the crystallization slurry. As mentioned above, it is preferable in that the SUS content of the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step can be increased and the solid-liquid separation property of the crystallization slurry is improved. The upper limit of the amount of seed crystal or seed agent added is not particularly set in the present invention, but from the viewpoint of further enhancing the above effect, 0.01 to 0.5 parts by mass, especially 0 It is preferable to set it as 0.05-0.3 mass part. As the seed crystal or seed agent, known seed crystals or seed agents can be used. For example, raw oils and fats that have been cooled and crystallized in advance, oils and fats containing a large amount of SSS, or polyglycerin fatty acid esters And emulsifiers such as polyglycerin fatty acid esters. In the present invention, a seed crystal having the same composition as that of the raw oil is preferably used in order to increase the purity of the crystal part.

  When adding seed crystals or seed agents, the dissolved palm-based fats and oils are cooled by the cooling method of (1) or (3), and cooled to below the melting point of the palm-based fats and oils used as raw materials. It is preferable to add seed crystals or seed agents. Specifically, while slowly stirring the completely dissolved palm-based oil and fat, preferably cooled to 19 to 23 ° C., added with seed crystals, further cooled to 15 to 18 ° C., preferably 30 minutes to 80 hours, Is preferably held for 10 hours to 70 hours.

Next, the crystallization slurry is fractionated into a high melting point fraction and a low melting point fraction. The crystal part fractionated from the crystallization slurry in the fractionation step corresponds to the high melting point fraction, and the liquid part corresponds to the low melting point fraction.
Here, the high melting point fraction in the first dry fractionation step contains a lot of SSS and S2U, and the low melting point fraction contains a lot of SU2 and UUU.

  As a method for separating the crystallization slurry into a crystal part and a liquid part, natural filtration, suction filtration, squeeze filtration, centrifugation, or the like can be used. In the present invention, in order to minimize the number of machines to be used and perform the fractionation operation easily, a press filter that can perform pressurization and fractionation simultaneously, a filter press (membrane filter) that can be pressurized, a belt Squeeze filtration using a press or the like is preferred.

  A preferable pressure when carrying out the press filtration is 0.2 MPa or more, more preferably 0.5 to 5 MPa, and further preferably 1 to 4 MPa. In addition, it is preferable to raise gradually the pressure at the time of pressing from the pressing initial stage to the final pressing stage, and the increasing rate of the pressure is 1 MPa / min or less, preferably 0.5 MPa / min or less, more preferably 0.1 MPa / min or less. It is. If the pressurization rate is higher than 1 MPa / min, the SUS content of the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step may be lowered.

  In addition, in order to increase the yield of the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step, the fraction of the crystallization slurry is such that the ratio of the crystal part to the liquid part is a mass ratio, and the crystal part: liquid part = 10. : 90 to 60:40, preferably 15:85 to 50:50, and more preferably 18:82 to 45:55.

Next, sweating stearin containing a large amount of SUS component is obtained by sweating the high melting point fraction obtained by fractionating the crystallization slurry. Note that sweating refers to a fractionation operation that concentrates the target component in the crystal part or liquid part by heating the crystal part of the oil and fat and separating the liquid part while dissolving a part thereof. In the present invention, at the time of this sweating, it is preferable to sweat the high melting point fraction under pressure from the viewpoint that SU2 and UUU can be further reduced.
By sweating the high melting point fraction under pressure, the low melting point fraction generated by perspiration is separated and removed for a while, so that the amount of crystals in the high melting point fraction is kept high and the crystal structure in the high melting point fraction Can be kept strong and pressure resistant. Furthermore, by keeping the amount of the low melting point fraction in the high melting point fraction small, the solid-liquid equilibrium is biased toward the solid side, so that there is an advantage that the dissolution amount of the high melting point fraction can be minimized.
In the present invention, a SUS component having a higher separation efficiency and higher purity can be obtained by sweating the high melting point fraction under pressure as compared with the conventional sweating operation.

The pressure applied during sweating of the high melting point fraction is 0.02 to 2 MPa, preferably 0.1 to 2 MPa, more preferably 0.1 to 1.5 MPa, and still more preferably 0.1 to 1 MPa. If the pressure is less than 0.02 MPa, separation of the low melting point fraction during sweating becomes insufficient, and sweat stearin having a high SUS content may not be obtained, which is not preferable. On the other hand, when the pressure exceeds 2 MPa, when the high melting point fraction is perspired under pressure, the high melting point fraction is likely to permeate the filter cloth, and the separation efficiency of the high melting point fraction and the low melting point fraction is deteriorated. Because there is a fear, it is not preferable.
The pressure increase rate is 1 MPa / min or less, preferably 0.5 MPa / min or less, more preferably 0.1 MPa / min or less.

  Heating during sweating is performed at a temperature higher than the crystallization temperature and lower than the temperature at which the crystals are completely dissolved, but is preferably observed when the high melting point fraction obtained by filtration is melted by DSC. The temperature is equal to or higher than the onset temperature of the melting peak and lower than the offset temperature. When a plurality of melting peaks are observed, the melting peak of the component to be fractionated as the high melting point fraction may be used as a reference. Specifically, the sweating of the high melting point fraction of the crystallization slurry is preferably performed so that the temperature of the cake part made of the high melting point fraction is 25 to 35 ° C, particularly 27 to 33 ° C.

  Further, in this separation step, sweating is performed while applying pressure as described above, and the separation is performed. Therefore, the separation method includes a press filter that can perform pressurization and separation at the same time, a filter press that can be pressurized (membrane filter), and a belt. Squeeze filtration using a press or the like is preferred.

  In addition, when sweating while pressurizing the high melting point fraction, the heating temperature may be increased in multiple stages from the beginning to the end of the sweating process, or may be continuously increased.

The fractionation is performed such that the ratio of the low melting point fraction and the sweating stearin removed by sweating is a low melting point fraction: sweating stearin = 70: 30 to 5:95 in terms of mass ratio. Fractionation is preferably performed such that the low melting point fraction: sweating stearin = 50: 50 to 10:90, and most preferably the low melting point fraction: sweating stearin = 45: 55 to 15:85.
When the ratio of the sweating stearin is less than 30, it is not preferable because the yield of the high melting point fraction obtained in the sweating process may be reduced and the SSS may be concentrated. Further, when the ratio of sweating stearin is more than 95, it is not preferable because the low melting point fraction due to sweating is insufficiently squeezed and the quality may be deteriorated.
The sweat stearin contains a lot of SSS and S2U, and the low melting point fraction contains a lot of SU2 and UUU. This sweating operation separates and removes a slight low melting point fraction remaining in the crystal of the high melting point fraction obtained from the crystallization slurry, and increases the S2U concentration in the crystal as compared with the high melting point fraction. To obtain a sweaty stearin.

Next, the second dry fractionation process of the present invention will be described.
In the second dry fractionation step, the sweat stearin obtained in the first dry fractionation step is further fractionated to obtain a low melting point fraction in which the SUS component is concentrated except for the high melting point fraction in the sweat stearin.
In the second dry fractionation step, the high melting point fraction contains a lot of SSS, and the low melting point fraction contains a lot of target SUS.

  As a method for removing the high melting point fraction from the sweating stearin and obtaining the low melting point fraction, the sweating stearin is completely dissolved again by heating, and then the crystals are precipitated by cooling crystallization and filtered to remove the high melting point fraction. Examples thereof include a method and a method in which sweating is performed while pressurizing again against sweating stearin to remove a high melting point fraction.

In the method in which the sweating stearin is dissolved again, and then the crystals are precipitated by cooling and separated by filtration, it is preferable to cool the dissolved sweating stearin so that the amount of crystals is 3 to 8% by mass, and the amount of crystals is 4 to 7% by weight. It is more preferable to cool it so that it becomes%. When the amount of crystals is less than 3%, it is not preferable because SSS cannot be sufficiently reduced. When the amount of crystals exceeds 8% by mass, the target component, SUS, may also be crystallized at the same time, and the yield of fat and oil components that can be used as hard butter may be reduced. Therefore, it is not preferable. In addition, when filtering by this method, it is preferable to perform press filtration.
The temperature at which the sweating stearin is dissolved is not particularly limited as long as the sweating stearin is sufficiently heated and dissolved so that no trace of crystals or solid fat remains, and may be appropriately determined according to the physical properties of the sweating stearin. Further, the cooling temperature and time of the dissolved sweating stearin are not particularly limited as long as the SFC of the sweating stearin falls within the above range, but it takes 30 minutes to 10 hours from the state where the sweating stearin is completely dissolved. It is preferable to cool to 30 to 45 ° C. and hold the temperature for 30 minutes to 72 hours, preferably 5 to 48 hours. Cooling may be slow cooling, may be rapid cooling, and may be performed by combining slow cooling and rapid cooling. In addition, it is preferable to perform slow cooling and rapid cooling as above-mentioned.

In addition, when selecting a method for obtaining a low-melting fraction by sweating while applying pressure again to sweating stearin, the sweating stearin is obtained under pressure and the mantle temperature is increased as it is, so that a high melting fraction and a low melting fraction are obtained. Even after separation, after returning to normal temperature and normal pressure, pressurization and heating may be performed again to perform separation by perspiration.
The pressurization condition at this time is 0.02 to 2 MPa, preferably 0.1 to 2 MPa, more preferably 0.1 to 1.5 MPa, and further preferably the same as the pressurization pressure in the sweating operation of the first dry fractionation step. Is preferably performed at 0.1 to 1 MPa.
The sweating of sweated stearin is preferably performed at 37 to 48 ° C, more preferably at 38 to 45 ° C in the method of sweating while applying pressure to the sweated stearin again to obtain a low melting point fraction.

The low melting point fraction obtained through the second dry fractionation step is particularly concentrated in the S2U component, and the low melting point fraction contains 85% by mass or more of S2U in the triglyceride constituting the oil and fat. The SUS content in S2U is 87 to 98% by mass.
According to the production method of the present invention, for example, SSS is 3.0% by mass or less, S2U is 85% by mass or more, SU2 is 5.0% by mass or less, and diacylglycerol is 2.0% by mass or less. A fat fraction enriched with SUS can be obtained.

  The method for producing a hard butter composition of the present invention includes the first dry fractionation step and the second dry fractionation step, and the obtained low melting point fraction can be used as it is as a hard butter. If necessary, an emulsifier, an antioxidant, a colorant, a flavor and the like can be added to the low melting point fraction.

Examples of the emulsifier include glycerin fatty acid ester, sucrose fatty acid ester, sorbitan fatty acid ester, propylene glycol fatty acid ester, glycerin organic acid fatty acid ester, polyglycerin fatty acid ester, polyglycerin condensed ricinoleic acid ester, calcium stearoyl lactate, sodium stearoyl lactate, polyoxyethylene Fatty acid ester, polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester, and lecithin can be mentioned. In the present invention, glycerin fatty acid ester, sorbitan fatty acid ester, sucrose fatty acid ester, and lecithin are preferably used. When using the said emulsifier, it is preferable that the addition amount is the range of 1-5 mass parts in 100 mass parts of hard butter compositions, and it is more preferable that it is 1-3 mass parts.
The antioxidant is not limited as long as it does not impair the flavor of the obtained food. Tocopherol or tea extract is preferably used.

  The hard butter composition obtained as described above is characterized in that the occurrence of fat bloom and graining when cocoa butter is blended is suppressed, and that snapping properties and mouth melting are good. Therefore, it is particularly excellent as a hard butter for temper type chocolate. In addition to its use, it can be used in butter cream fats and oils, sand cream fats and oils, margarine / shortening fats and oils, oil phase ingredients in oil-in-water emulsified fats and oils such as ice cream and ice coating fats, and whipped cream. Can be used.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example demonstrates this invention further in detail, this invention is not restrict | limited at all by these Examples.

(Production Example 1)
Palm olein (0.4% by weight SSS, 44.2% by weight S2U, 38.1% by weight SU2, 37.3% by weight UUU, etc. 17.3% by weight), which is a soft oil of fractionated palm Palm oil was added so as to be 1% by mass, and the raw material oil used in this example (SSS content 1.1% by mass, S2U content 44.8% by mass, SU2 content 40.8% by mass, UUU other content 13 .3 mass%) was prepared. Moreover, the SUS content in S2U in this raw material oil was 86.0 mass%.

(Production Example 2)
SSS content is 2 with respect to palm olein (SSS content 0.4 mass%, S2U content 44.2 mass%, SU2 content 38.1 mass%, UUU et al. Content 17.3 mass%) which is a palm fraction soft part oil. Palm oil was added so that it might become 0.9 mass%, and the raw material oil used for this comparative example (SSS content 2.9 mass%, S2U content 44.3 mass%, SU2 content 37.3 mass%, UUU other content 15 0.5 mass%) was prepared. Moreover, the SUS content in S2U in this raw material oil was 86.2 mass%.

(Example 1).
[First dry fractionation process]
The raw material oil of Production Example 1 was completely dissolved so that no trace of solid fat remained. After confirming complete dissolution, the oil temperature reaches 30 ° C. in 1 hour from the completely dissolved raw material oil while stirring at 40 rpm using a jacketed glass crystallization tank. Then, it was rapidly cooled at 10 ° C./h for 1 hour. When the oil temperature reached 20 ° C., 0.1 part by mass of the seed crystal was added with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw material oil, followed by slow cooling at 2 ° C./h for 1 hour. Then, the fat and oil temperature was hold | maintained for 20 hours in the state of 18 degreeC, and the 1st maturing process was performed. Then, after slow cooling at 0.5 ° C./h for 1 hour, the oil and fat temperature was kept at 17.5 ° C. for 20 hours, and a second aging step was performed. After further cooling at 0.5 ° C./h for 1 hour, the oil and fat temperature was maintained at 17.0 ° C. for 50 hours to obtain a crystallization slurry having a crystal amount of 24.7% (17 ° C.). Note that this crystallization slurry was also used as the seed crystal.
In addition, from the crystal | crystallization of the obtained crystallization slurry, it respond | corresponds to the diffraction peak corresponding to the surface interval of 4.5-4.7 ?, and the surface intervals of 4.1-4.3４ and 3.8-3.9Å. Diffraction peak intensity 1 corresponding to a surface interval of 4.1 to 4.3 mm measured by an X-ray diffractometer and diffraction corresponding to a surface distance of 4.5 to 4.7 mm measured by an X-ray diffractometer. The ratio to the peak intensity 2 (peak intensity 1 / peak intensity 2) was 1.0, and it was confirmed that the crystals of the obtained crystallization slurry contained β prime crystals.
Further, when the particle size distribution of the crystallization slurry was examined, the particle size distribution was a spherical shape of 200 to 1000 μm, and crystals having a diameter of less than 120 μm were not included.
This crystallization slurry was squeezed and filtered while being pressurized to 2 MPa using a membrane filter, and fractionated into a liquid part (1) and a crystal part (1). The high melting point fraction (1) which is the crystal part (1) thus obtained was sweated while being heated to 29 ° C. in a state where the pressure was further increased to 1 MPa to remove the low melting point fraction. Got.

[Second dry fractionation process]
The obtained sweating stearin was heated and dissolved again until no traces of solid fat remained, then cooled continuously with stirring, and cooled until the final fat temperature became 37 ° C., and the amount of crystals was 6.0%. A crystallization slurry (37 ° C.) was obtained. This crystallized slurry was squeezed and filtered under a pressure of 1 MPa using a membrane filter to obtain a low melting point fraction (2). The triglyceride composition of this low melting point fraction (2) is SSS content 2.6% by mass, S2U content 89.7% by mass, SU2 content 4.7% by mass, UUU and other content 3.0% by mass, and S2U is concentrated. Oil and fat fraction was obtained. The SUS content in S2U of the obtained low melting point fraction (2) was 91.3% by mass. Moreover, the fractionation yield was 18.6% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw material oil.
A hard butter composition A was obtained by adding 2 parts by mass of sorbitan fatty acid ester to 98 parts by mass of the low melting point fraction (2) and dissolving and mixing them uniformly.

(Example 2)
[First dry fractionation process]
Sweating stearin was obtained using exactly the same raw materials and manufacturing method as in the first dry fractionation step of Example 1.
[Second dry fractionation process]
The sweat stearin obtained in the first dry fractionation step was heated to an oil temperature of 42 ° C. while pressurizing at 1 MPa, and further sweated to obtain a low melting point fraction (2). This low melting point fraction (2) has a triglyceride composition of SSS content 1.7% by mass, S2U content 90.8% by mass, SU2 content 4.7% by mass, UUU and other contents 2.8% by mass, and S2U is concentrated. Oil and fat fraction was obtained. The SUS content in S2U of the obtained low melting point fraction (2) was 90.8% by mass. Moreover, the fractionation yield was 18.9% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw material oil.
A hard butter composition B was obtained by adding 2 parts by mass of sorbitan fatty acid ester to 98 parts by mass of the low melting point fraction (2), and uniformly dissolving and mixing them.

(Comparative Example 1)
Palm olein (SSS content 0.4% by mass, S2U content 44.2% by mass, SU2 content 38.1% by mass, UUU et al. Content 17.3% by mass) which is a palm fraction soft part oil was used as a raw material oil. This raw oil was completely dissolved while stirring so that no trace of solid fat remained.
After confirming complete dissolution, using a jacketed glass crystallization tank, while stirring at 40 rpm, the oil and fat temperature was rapidly cooled to reach 30 ° C. in 1 hour, and further 10 ° C. / H for 1 hour. When the oil temperature reached 20 ° C., 0.1 part by mass of the seed crystal was added with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw material oil, followed by slow cooling at 2 ° C./h for 1 hour. Then, the fat and oil temperature was hold | maintained for 20 hours in the state of 18 degreeC, and the 1st maturing process was performed. Then, after slow cooling at 0.5 ° C./h for 1 hour, the oil and fat temperature was kept at 17.5 ° C. for 20 hours, and a second aging step was performed. After further cooling at 0.5 ° C./h for 1 hour, the oil and fat temperature was kept at 17.0 ° C. for 50 hours to obtain a crystallization slurry having a crystal content of 22.0% (17 ° C.). Note that this crystallization slurry was also used as the seed crystal.
In addition, the ratio (peak intensity) of the diffraction peak intensity 1 corresponding to the surface interval of 4.1 to 4.3 mm measured by the X-ray diffractometer and the diffraction peak intensity 2 corresponding to the surface distance of 4.5 to 4.7 mm. The 1 / peak intensity 2) was 0.4.
Further, when the particle size distribution of the crystallization slurry was examined, the particle size distribution was a spherical shape of 200 to 1000 μm, and crystals having a diameter of less than 120 μm were not included.
This crystallization slurry was squeezed and filtered while being pressurized to 2 MPa using a membrane filter, and fractionated into a liquid part (1) and a crystal part (1). The high melting point fraction (1), which is the crystal part (1), was sweated while being further pressurized to 29 ° C. under a pressure of 1 MPa to remove the low melting point fraction to obtain sweating stearin. This sweat stearin had a triglyceride composition of SSS content 3.0% by mass, S2U content 87.1% by mass, SU2 content 5.6% by mass, UUU and other contents 4.3% by mass. The fractionation yield was 21.0% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the feedstock. The SUS content in S2U of the obtained sweated stearin was 86.3% by mass.
A hard butter composition C was prepared by adding 2 parts by mass of sorbitan fatty acid ester to 98 parts by mass of this sweating stearin and dissolving and mixing it uniformly.

(Comparative Example 2)
The sweated stearin obtained by the operation of Comparative Example 1 was heated and dissolved again until no trace of solid fat remained, then continuously cooled with stirring, and cooled until the final fat temperature became 37 ° C. A crystallization slurry having a crystal amount of 4% (37 ° C.) was obtained. This crystallized slurry was subjected to squeezing filtration while being pressurized to 1 MPa using a membrane filter to obtain a low melting point fraction (2). The triglyceride composition of this low melting point fraction (2) was SSS content of 2.4% by mass, S2U content of 90.1% by mass, SU2 content of 4.4% by mass, UUU and other contents of 3.1% by mass. It was. The fractionation yield was 8.5% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the feedstock. The SUS content in S2U of the obtained low melting point fraction (2) was 86.7% by mass.
A hard butter composition D was obtained by adding 2 parts by mass of sorbitan fatty acid ester to 98 parts by mass of the low melting point fraction (2), and homogeneously dissolving and mixing them.

(Comparative Example 3)
[First dry fractionation process]
The raw material oil of Production Example 2 was heated at an oil / fat temperature of 65 ° C. so that no trace of solid fat remained, and was sufficiently dissolved with stirring. After confirming complete dissolution, using a jacketed glass crystallization tank, while stirring at 40 rpm, the oil and fat temperature was rapidly cooled to reach 30 ° C. in 1 hour, and further 10 ° C. / H for 1 hour. When the oil temperature reached 20 ° C., 0.1 part by mass of the seed crystal was added with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw material oil, followed by slow cooling at 2 ° C./h for 1 hour. Then, the fat and oil temperature was hold | maintained for 20 hours in the state of 18 degreeC, and the 1st maturing process was performed. Then, after slow cooling at 0.5 ° C./h for 1 hour, the oil and fat temperature was kept at 17.5 ° C. for 20 hours, and a second aging step was performed. After further cooling at 0.5 ° C./h for 1 hour, the oil and fat temperature was maintained at 17.0 ° C. for 50 hours to obtain a crystallization slurry having a crystal content of 25.2% (17 ° C.). Note that this crystallization slurry was also used as the seed crystal.
In addition, the ratio (peak intensity) of the diffraction peak intensity 1 corresponding to the surface interval of 4.1 to 4.3 mm measured by the X-ray diffractometer and the diffraction peak intensity 2 corresponding to the surface distance of 4.5 to 4.7 mm. The 1 / peak intensity 2) was 1.1.
Further, when the particle size distribution of the crystallization slurry was examined, the particle size distribution was a spherical shape of 200 to 1000 μm, and crystals having a diameter of less than 120 μm were not included.
This crystallization slurry was squeezed and filtered while being pressurized to 2 MPa using a membrane filter, and fractionated into a liquid part (1) and a crystal part (1). The high melting point fraction (1) which is the crystal part (1) thus obtained was sweated while being heated to 29 ° C. in a state where the pressure was further increased to 1 MPa to remove the low melting point fraction. Got.
[Second dry fractionation process]
The obtained sweat stearin was dissolved again by heating at an oil temperature of 65 ° C. until no trace of solid fat remained, and then continuously cooled with stirring until the final oil temperature was 37 ° C. Gave a crystallization slurry of 6.0% (37 ° C.). This crystallized slurry was squeezed and filtered under a pressure of 1 MPa using a membrane filter to obtain a low melting point fraction (2). The triglyceride composition of the low melting point fraction (2) was SSS content 3.5% by mass, S2U content 88.5% by mass, SU2 content 6.6% by mass, UUU other content 1.4% by mass. Moreover, the fractionation yield was 7.4% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw material oil. The SUS content in S2U of the obtained low melting point fraction (2) was 89.0% by mass.
A hard butter composition E was prepared by adding 2 parts by mass of sorbitan fatty acid ester to 98 parts by mass of the low melting point fraction (2), and homogeneously dissolving and mixing them.

<Manufacture of chocolates>
[Examples 3 and 4 and Comparative Examples 4 to 6]
Using hard butters A to E obtained in Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3, chocolate was produced by the following production method with the formulation shown in Table 1. The obtained chocolate was subjected to sensory evaluation (melting in the mouth) and snapping evaluation according to the following evaluation criteria, and the results are shown in Table 2.

<Combination of chocolate>

<Chocolate manufacturing method>
The hard butter composition, cacao butter and cacao mass were heated to 55 ° C. to dissolve, and the whole milk powder, sugar and lecithin were kneaded to form a paste, rolled, and then conching to obtain a chocolate dough. . The chocolate dough was tempered by a conventional method, poured into a mold, and cooled and solidified at 5 ° C. for 12 hours to produce chocolate.

<Evaluation criteria>
Sensory evaluation criteria (melted in the mouth)
◎ Extremely good mouth melting.
○ Good.
△ Somewhat bad.
× It is defective.
Evaluation criteria for snapping property ◎ It has an exhilarating snapping property and is very good. ○ Good.
△ Somewhat bad.
× Sticky and defective.

As is clear from Examples 1 and 2, using a palm oil containing SSS in the range of 0.7 to 2.0% by mass, the hardware manufactured through the first dry fractionation step and the second dry fractionation step Compared with the hard butter composition of Comparative Example 1 manufactured by the prior art, the butter composition has a higher yield of a hard butter composition in which the liquid part (SU2, UUU) is reduced and S2U is concentrated. It was.
On the other hand, as is apparent from Comparative Examples 2 and 3, when hard butter was produced using palm-based fats and oils having an SSS content of less than 0.7% by mass or more than 2.0% by mass, The yield of oil and fat components that can be used as hard butter was low even though the same fractionation process was performed.

Claims (11)

  First dry fractionation to obtain sweating stearin by sweating the crystal part obtained from the crystallization slurry prepared by cooling and crystallizing palm oil containing 0.7 to 2.0% by mass of SSS (trisaturated triglyceride) And a second dry fractionation step in which the sweat stearin obtained in the first dry fractionation step is further fractionated to obtain a low melting point fraction in which SUS (1,3-disaturated-2-monounsaturated triglyceride) is concentrated; A method for producing hard butter, comprising:   The method for producing hard butter according to claim 1, wherein the palm-based oil has an S2U content of 35 to 50% by mass.   The method for producing hard butter according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the amount of crystals of the crystallization slurry in the first dry fractionation step is more than 21 mass%.   The method for producing hard butter according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the crystals of the crystallization slurry in the first dry fractionation step include β prime crystals.   The crystals of the crystallization slurry in the first dry fractionation step are substantially composed of crystals having a particle size of 120 to 1000 µm, and crystals having a particle size of less than 120 µm are 1% or less on a volume basis. The method for producing hard butter according to any one of 4.   A seed crystal is added at the time of cooling for the production | generation of the crystallization slurry in a 1st dry fractionation process, The manufacturing method of the hard butter | batter as described in any one of Claims 1-5 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The method for producing hard butter according to claim 1, wherein sweating in the first dry fractionation step is performed under pressure.   The method for producing hard butter according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the S2U content of the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step is 85 mass% or more.   The hard butter according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the low melting point fraction in the second dry fractionation step is obtained by a method in which sweat stearin is further heated and sweated. Production method.   The low melting point fraction in the second dry fractionation step is obtained by a method of removing the high melting point fraction from the crystallization slurry prepared by re-dissolving sweat stearin and cooling and crystallizing. The manufacturing method of the hard butter as described in any one of Claims 1-8. Hard butter obtained by the production method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.