JP5493310B2 - Oil and fat fine crystal precipitation method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a fine crystal precipitation method and a fine crystal precipitation accelerator for fats and oils.

  In processed fats and oils containing solid fats such as margarine, shortening and chocolates, how fine the fat crystals can be in the manufacturing process depends on physical properties such as product hardness, extensibility, and meltability, and stable storage over time. It is an important key in terms of sex. In order to produce fine crystals, combinations of fats and oils and partially hardened oils have been adopted. However, trans fatty acids generated during hardening are regarded as a problem for health reasons, and the use of partially hardened oil is decreasing. .

  On the other hand, palm oil has a very high yield per unit area among various types of natural fats and oils, is inexpensive and has a stable supply, and is therefore extremely important as an oil resource and is frequently used as various raw materials. Even in the production of processed oils and fats such as margarine and shortening, palm oil does not contain trans acid, so its use is greatly expected. However, processed fats and oils that are highly blended with fats and oils derived from palm oil tend to generate coarse crystals, so that the structure is rough and the amount used is limited.

  Therefore, various proposals have been made as methods for modifying palm oil, such as a method of changing molecular species such as curing and transesterification, and a method of selecting a molecular species composition such as fractionation. Hardening tends to be avoided as a result of by-production of trans fatty acids as described above. In transesterification, the crystallization speed is generally slowed down due to the influence of the asymmetrical fats and oils that are produced, and the fats and oils that become coarser are separated. In particular, these treatment methods are not appropriate because they require a large apparatus for the production capacity. On the other hand, miniaturization by addition of an emulsifier has been studied, but it is not always a desirable method due to price increase and recent health awareness.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a method of pressurizing / crystallizing a palm-based oil or its emulsion in a cooler to obtain fine crystals. However, a special device such as a high-pressure specification for the cooler is required. It is not always a simple method. Patent Document 2 discloses a method for forming fine crystals using ultrasonic waves, but it is not a simple method as well.

  Patent Document 3 describes that triacylglycerol containing behenic acid as a constituent fatty acid makes palm oil fine crystals, but its effect is weak and a large amount of addition is required.

JP 2001-252016 A JP 2002-226886 A JP-A-63-056250

  The purpose of the present application is to precipitate crystals finely by a simple method with respect to solid fat, particularly fat and oil derived from palm oil.

As a result of studying various additives in order to achieve the above object, the present inventors have found that free fatty acids having a specific chain length have an effect of controlling the crystal diameter of palm oil by adding a small amount. The present invention has been completed.
That is, the present invention for solving the above problems
(1) A method for precipitating fine crystals of fats and oils, wherein the fats and oils in which behenic acid is melted or dissolved are cooled.
(2) The fine crystal precipitation method according to (1), wherein behenic acid is added in an amount of 0.01% by weight or more based on fats and oils.
(3) The fine crystal precipitation method according to (1), wherein the fat / oil contains 10% by weight or more of triacylglycerol represented by POP.
(4) A fine crystal precipitation accelerator for fats and oils containing behenic acid as an active ingredient.
(5) Oils and fats containing the fine crystal precipitation accelerator according to (4).
(6) Oil processed food using the fat according to (5).
It is.

  According to the present invention, fine fats can be easily precipitated without requiring the addition of a complicated apparatus or an emulsifier for fats and oils containing solid fats, particularly fats and oils with coarse crystallization, especially fats and oils derived from palm oil. It became possible.

  The target fats and oils (base fats and oils) used in the present invention are preferably those having a melting point of 10 ° C. or higher. For example, palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, beef tallow, lard fat, milk fat, monkey fat, shea fat, coco Examples thereof include natural solid fats such as avatar (cocoa butter) and those subjected to processing such as fractionation, curing, and transesterification using these as raw materials. Further, it is also possible to use hardened oils, transesterified oils and the like using liquid oils such as soybean oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, rice bran oil, safflower oil, fish oil and the like. In the present invention, one or more of these fats and oils can be used. Among them, the effect of promoting the precipitation of fine crystals of the present application is effective and preferable for fats and oils mainly composed of palm oil or cocoa butter and the like that easily generate coarse crystals. Particularly preferred for fats and oils derived from palm oil. Specifically, fats and oils containing 10% by weight or more of POP (1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-oleoyl-triacylglycerol) are preferred, and fats and oils containing 15% by weight or more are preferred. Most preferred.

  Behenic acid is a linear saturated fatty acid having 22 carbon atoms. Behenic acid can be obtained, for example, by extremely hydrogenating erucic acid obtained by hydrolyzing Hyersin rapeseed oil. The addition of this behenic acid as a free fatty acid to fats and oils is a feature of the method for promoting fine crystal precipitation of fats and oils according to the present invention. The effects of the present application cannot be obtained with stearic acid and palmitic acid, which are lower fatty acids than behenic acid, and oleic acid, which is an unsaturated fatty acid. Also, polymer fatty acids such as lignoceric acid, which is a linear saturated fatty acid having 24 carbon atoms, are not suitable for the present invention because of their high melting point and difficulty in handling.

  Although behenic acid is added to the target oil (base oil), 0.01% by weight or more is preferably added to the oil. More preferably, it is 0.12% by weight or less. If it is less than 0.01% by weight, the effect of promoting fine crystal precipitation is weakened. If it exceeds 0.12% by weight, components that do not melt partially may be found in the oil and fat, and the acid value standard (0.2 or less) of refined oil and shortening according to Japanese Agricultural Standards may be exceeded. In the present application, melting refers to a state in which a solid substance has undergone phase transition to a liquid in an environment having a melting point or higher, and dissolution refers to a state in which the substance is uniformly dispersed in another liquid.

  For base fats and oils to which behenic acid is added in solid or liquid form, the base fats and oils are heated until the base fats and oils are melted and the behenic acid is melted or dissolved. Thereafter, the base oil and fat are stirred and the behenic acid is sufficiently mixed, whereby an oil and fat having fine crystal precipitation ability can be obtained.

  These fats and oils in which behenic acid is melted or dissolved can then be cooled to precipitate fine fat crystals. Cooling is below the melting point of the base oil and fat, and the temperature and cooling method can be selected depending on the oil and fat or processed food. For example, in the case of fats and oils for chocolate, cool rapidly in an atmosphere of 10 ° C, and in the case of margarine, cool down to 10 ° C while making contact with the wall surface in the cooling tower of the production equipment. Various conditions, such as cooling the liquid which became an oil-in-water emulsion to 5 degreeC over 12 hours after steam sterilization, can be illustrated.

  Various types of processed oils and fats can be prepared using the oils and fats having the ability to precipitate fine crystals. Even if the raw material fats and oils have crystals that are easily coarsened during long-term storage, such as palm oil, cacao fat or its substitute fat, lard, etc., the crystals are refined by the present invention, and the subsequent coarsening is suppressed. Is done. For example, it can be used for various oils and fats processed foods such as margarine and shortening, whipped cream, coffee cream, chocolates and the like.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

○ Example 1 (Evaluation of fine crystal precipitation ability by various fatty acids and mono / diacylglycerols / margarine-containing fats and oils)
First, a high melting point fat (35% by weight of rapeseed oil, 40% by weight of palm kernel oil, 25% by weight of Hyelin rapeseed oil was mixed, subjected to non-selective transesterification using sodium methylate as a catalyst, washed with water, dehydrated, Prepared base oil and fat containing margarine, consisting of 7% by weight, 70% by weight palm oil (POP content 29% by weight) and 23% by weight rapeseed oil. (Melting point 40 ° C.). 0.036 wt% behenic acid, stearic acid (manufactured by Kishida Chemical Co., Ltd.), monobehenoyl glycerol, dibehenoyl glycerol, tribehen (tribehenoyl glycerol) (manufactured by NU-CHEK PREP) was added thereto. An additive zone and an additive-free zone were provided. These sample solutions were melted in an 80 ° C. hot water bath and sufficiently stirred with a magnetic stirrer, and then 5 μl was collected on a slide glass and left at room temperature with a cover glass. After melting in an incubator at 70 ° C. for 10 minutes, the sample was placed on a polarizing microscope stage adjusted to 27 ° C., and the growth of oil crystals was observed / evaluated. Crystals were evaluated by measuring the crystal particle diameter after 5 minutes and the number of crystals after 5 minutes in the field of view (220 μm × 310 μm).

○ Table 1. Various additives and fat crystal particle size (margarine blended fat)

  The results with margarine blended fats and oils are shown in Table 1. Among the additives, only the crystal particle diameter of behenic acid was significantly small, and the number of crystals after 5 minutes was large, which proved to have an effect of refining the crystals. In addition, other triglycerols and fatty acids, and monoacylglycerol and diacylglycerol containing behenic acid as constituent fatty acids did not show a remarkable fine crystal precipitation effect. Therefore, it was found that the effect can be obtained by existing as behenic acid, not as a constituent fatty acid of acylglycerol.

Example 2 (Influence of fine crystal precipitation ability depending on the amount of behenic acid added)
The same operation as in Example 1 was carried out except that behenic acid was added to the base fat and oil at 0.018 wt%, 0.036 wt% and 0.072 wt%.

○ Table 2. Addition amount of behenic acid and fat crystal particle size

  Table 2 shows the results of crystal grain size according to the amount of behenic acid added. The effect was observed when the addition amount was 0.018% by weight or more, and the effect was not changed even when the addition amount was further increased.

○ Example 3 (Evaluation of fine crystal precipitation ability in cocoa butter with various fatty acids)
Crystal precipitation was observed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the base fat was deodorized and decolored cocoa butter (chocolate blended fat) (POP content 14 wt%, melting point 33 ° C.). In addition, 0.036 wt% of behenic acid and stearic acid were added to cocoa butter.

○ Table 3. Various additives and fat crystal particle size (chocolate blended fat)

  The results are shown in Table 3. In cocoa butter, among various fatty acids, crystals were particularly small in the behenic acid-added section, and free behenic acid was found to have the effect of refining cocoa butter crystals.

Claims (5)

A method for precipitating fine crystals of an oil containing 10% by weight or more of triacylglycerol represented by POP and having a melting point of 10 ° C. or more, wherein 0.01% to 0.12% by weight of behenic acid is melted or A method for precipitating fine crystals of fats and oils, wherein the dissolved fats and oils are cooled. The method for precipitating fine crystals of fats and oils according to claim 1, wherein the fats and oils are fats and oils mainly containing fats and oils derived from palm oil or cocoa butter. An oil / fat containing 10% by weight or more of triacylglycerol represented by POP and having a melting point of 10 ° C. or more, and containing 0.01% to 0.12% by weight of behenic acid. The fats and oils of Claim 3 which uses the fats and oils derived from palm oil or cocoa butter as a main component. Oil processed foods using the fats and oils of Claim 3 or Claim 4.