THE OILY PRESS

Written by Ralph E Timms. Published in 2003.
ISBN-13: 978-0-9531949-4-0 (ISBN-10: 0-9531949-4-9).

On this page you can read the Author's Preface and reviews of this book written in the scientific literature. For more details of the chapters and to buy the book, please see the main Confectionery Fats Handbook web page.

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Preface | Reviews

Confectionery fats are the prima donnas of the edible oils and fats world and are characterised by the archetypal confectionery fat, cocoa butter. The study of cocoa butter and the attempts to simulate its properties have been a driving force for the understanding of the chemical and physical properties of fats. Most of the research and development has taken place over the last fifty years, reaching a climax in the 1970s and 1980s when the modern analytical techniques of solid fat content determination by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and fatty acid and triglyceride analysis by gas chromatography were fully developed and perfected. The increasing use of computers made interpretation and manipulation of the data collected much easier. What took days or even weeks to achieve by a previous generation of workers could be achieved in minutes or hours.

My initiation into the mysteries of confectionery fats came when I joined Unilever Research as a young physical chemist at their Welwyn research laboratories. Working in Hut 6 with colleagues who will be known to many readers (Mike Dallas, Wolf Hamm, David Illingworth, Shams Kheiri, Fred Padley, Geoff Talbot, David Tresser and David Waddington, to name only a few) was an exciting time. The basis for this book began then and indeed I am pleased to have been allowed to reproduce previously unpublished phase diagrams from that now long-distant, but not forgotten, time. After leaving Unilever, when the laboratory at Welwyn was about to close, my education in confectionery fats continued at the CSIRO Food Division's laboratory in Melbourne, Australia, and then at Kempas Edible Oil in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. Since 1987, work as a consultant has broadened my knowledge of the oils and fats industry and of the confectionery fats industry in particular. In 1995, three colleagues and I founded a new confectionery fats company – Britannia Food Ingredients – thus bringing together and utilising my experience of the previous 25 years. When Peter Barnes, Publisher of the Oily Press, approached me to write this book, I therefore felt qualified for the task, although over-awed by the responsibility of trying to bring this vast and complex subject within the reach of readers in a readable and accessible form.

Assisting me in my task, several friends and former colleagues have kindly read through various sections. The book is immensely improved by their efforts and I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Colin Crews, Dave Cruickshank, Bob Eagle, Dick Hamilton, Wolf Hamm, Jens Kristott, Fred Padley, Kyo Sato and Ian Stewart. I am also grateful to my colleagues at Britannia Food Ingredients for assistance with some of the data and the information provided in the book. Other companies and individuals have also provided useful information and all have been acknowledged at the appropriate point.

This book would not have been published without the support of Peter Barnes. It has been much improved by the attentions of the editor, Beverley White. I thank them both.

My aim in writing this book is to provide a single source for all the information available about confectionery fats. Because the study of confectionery fats has laid the foundations of the physical and analytical chemistry of fats in general, I have included comprehensive coverage of the physical and analytical chemistry of confectionery fats which should prove useful to the more general reader. Similarly, the chapters on the production of confectionery fats exemplify the state of the art in technologies used to modify fats in general. The study of confectionery fats is not primarily an academic subject, although it is well founded on scientific principles. I have therefore included information about how to make chocolate and other confectionery. Legislation and government regulations have also been included, because the production and marketing of chocolate is subject to legal constraints in all countries. To enable the reader to keep up-to-date with technical and commercial developments in the future, appendixes are provided giving commercial and product information and web addresses of useful organisations.

In the first book in this Oily Press series, Bill Christie stated that the aim was to provide "practical and readable texts" which he hoped would "remain on the laboratory bench, not on the library shelf". If I have achieved this aim, then I shall be well satisfied.

Finally, I thank my wife Mary for her constant support not just while writing this book, but during the more than thirty years of our `fat' years together in many countries.

Ralph E. Timms, Nocton, Lincoln, UK

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Richard W. Hartel, Professor in Food Engineering and an expert on crystallization at the University of Wisconsin's Department of Food Science, USA, writing in the AOCS magazine INFORM, March 2005, pp.177.......

"I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in lipid use, properties, and behavior in chocolate and compound coatings. Whether a novice or an expert, there is something in this book for everyone"..."Ralph Timms...is certainly one of the leading experts in the area of confectionery fats and that expertise clearly comes through in this book"...the author is able to provide an excellent combination of basic principles with practical applications."

"One of the best attributes of this book is the clear and concise style of writing. Even the detailed discussions of the most complex fundamental principles are easy to follow."..."Another excellent attribute of this book is the compilation of molecular composition of a wide range of fats used in confectionery products...No other resource contains this type of information at this level of depth."

"This book has been sorely needed. Never before has there been such a well-written summary of the important aspects of confectionery fats. I recommend this book for both academic researchers and industrial practitioners, as well as students new to the field of lipid chemistry.

Kevin Smith, lipid technologist, Unilever R&D Colworth, Sharnbrook, UK, writing in Chemistry & Industry, 16 February 2004, pp.24-25.......

[After a detailed backround to chocolate technology....] Ralph Timms has been involved in confectionery fats for many years, and has many publications. When I joined Fred Padley's section at Unilever R&D, Colworth [UK], many years ago, I remember coming across reports from Ralph, who left Unilever a couple of years before I started. I would like to have had his newest book then. It provides a readily understandable, comprehensive overview of the physical properties of confectionery fats and would have been an ideal introduction for me. He thoroughly understands the phase behaviour and crystallisation of confectionery fats and can explain it clearly. After more than 25 years in the industry I have found this book useful. It provides a good starting point for any new information search.

Ralph systematically covers polymorphism, phase behaviour, crystallisation, analytical methods, processing methods, raw materials, production and characteristic properties, interactions and bloom, applications, analysis of fat in chocolate and, importantly, legislation and regulation.

The text is accompanied by many useful tables and figures, which have been reproduced from papers that Ralph has published previously as as from papers of other authors. Of course, it is not possible to include every detail in such a book but Ralph provides more than 700 references for furthe rreading. This is an excellent introduction to confectionery fats and also provides a springboard for experienced fats users and researchers. As such, this is a book that should grace the shelves of anyone working in the chocolate and confectionery industry, be it as manufacturers or as academics, as well as libraries.

William Lavers, Consultant Editor, writing in Oils & Fats International, January 2004, p.32........

The EU's long awaited chocolate directive – Chocolate Directive 2000/36/EC – came into force in August 2003, and if any readers are still in doubt about which vegetable fats it allows to be mixed at up to 5% with cocoa butter for chocolate production, this book will tell them. In addition to palm oil and its fractions, the directive also allows the use of illipe, sal, shea, kokum and mango kernel fats, which Dr Timms dubs "exotic fats" and "the EU five" at different points in the book. The directive also stipulates that such fats be non-lauric and must be obtained only by refining and fractionation.

As if on cue for the new directive, this book puts everything relating to chocolate legislation and cocoa butter in wonderful perspective, and not just for the EU. For, as the author says, "the production and marketing of chocolate is subject to legal constraints in all countries".

But this book is not just about cocoa butter and chocolate; it is about all confectionery fats which are, according to Timms, the "prima donnas" of the edible oils and fats world; it is just that you cannot get away from the fact that, as a group, they are characterised by the "archetypal confectionery fat", which is cocoa butter.

The book also considers milk fats, palm oil and its fractions, the lauric fats and their fractions, the exotic fats and their fractions, and (modified) liquid oils, as well as a miscellaneous list that includes such things as the reduced-calorie structured lipids Salatrim and Caprenin, along with anti-bloom fats. It also puts the so-called cocoa butter equivalents, replacers and substitutes – CBEs, CBRs and CBSs – in proper perspective, along with high-trans fats and lauric confectionery fats.

The author's aim? "To provide a single source for all the information available about confectionery fats." The first 100 pages of the book are devoted to the physical chemistry of fats and their analysis. The following chapters – on fats as raw materials; their production and characteristic properties; and applications – are really the heart of the book.

While the applications section is heavily into chocolate, including legal and analytical aspects (authentication), it also considers other uses of confectionery fats, for example in toffee and sugar confectionery, as filling fats, in truffles, and so on. In the raw materials section, there is a good description of cocoa production, and the relative ease of palm oil fractionation is identified as a major driving factor in confectionery fats technology. Among the many processing issues addressed, the book discusses the relative merits of hydrogenation and interesterification (even though these techniques are not allowed in the EU chocolate directive). Fat is usually the most expensive component in confectionery and for anyone interested in any aspect of this wide and fascinating subject, this is quite a book.

A review in The Manufacturing Confectioner, January 2004, p.91........

The book provides a comprehensive guide to all aspects of the use of confectionery fats, with particular emphasis on chocolate confectionery applications.

Chocolate is a fat-continuous product and its properties are determined mainly by the fat, which is the most expensive component in confectionery. Confectionery fats may be cocoa butter, milk fat, palm oil, lauric oils or exotic fats. Vegetable oils are processed and blended to produce alternative fats to cocoa butter.

The book describes essential physical chemistry needed to understand the properties of confectionery fats; analytical methods; raw materials; production of confectionery fats; causes and prevention of bloom, fat migration and rancidity; and the use of confectionery fats in sugar and chocolate confectionery, including recipes for a range of products.

Figures, tables, legislative aspects, a glossary and a list of Web sites are also included.

Dr Steve T. Beckett, Nestle Product Technology Centre, York, UK, writing in European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, 2003, Vol.105, p.557.......

Recent changes in European legislation, together with articles in the media concerning the effect of different types of fat upon the health of its consumer, have made it critical that the correct fat is used for a particular confectionery product. Many of the fats that were used as cocoa butter equivalents can no longer be incorporated into a product that is labelled chocolate within the EU and several methods of fat production are no longer permitted. In other confectionery components such as toffees and caramels trans fatty acids are regarded as unhealthy and legislation is being drawn up in some countries to restrict their use. The type of fat used strongly affects the texture, mouthfeel and keeping properties of a product and a large amount of knowledge is required to find suitable alternatives.

It is therefore a very opportune time for the writing of this book, by an author who has worked for many years in this field. The complexity of the topic is shown by the fact that the book has over 440 pages on what is a relatively narrow topic i.e. only those fats used in confectionery. Like many other industries there are a lot of technical terms, which make it difficult for people new to the industry or indeed those that use them at infrequent intervals. The author defines the terms he uses very clearly and has an extensive glossary, which is particularly useful for the two and three letter abbreviations, which have become so much a part of modern life.

In order to understand why different fats give different textural and processing properties, it is necessary to understand their physical chemistry. The first main chapter covers this from polymorphism (why you need to temper chocolate), phase behaviour (why you can't just mix two fats), crystallisation (how to solidify chocolate so that it does not bloom) to the individual chemical compositions of these fats. For legal and technical reasons it is necessary to carry out analyses on these fats. Very often these analyses have to be carried out on the chocolate itself, which adds another degree of complexity, especially for milk and vegetable fats. These are often there at less than 5%, but legally must be determined very accurately

Two chapters of the book are devoted to analysis and outlining the difficulties and errors in some of these procedures.

For many people a confectionery fat is just an ingredient that is delivered in blocks or by a tanker. However, before it can be delivered it must be manufactured. For this part of the industry – and indeed for those of us who make chocolate and are interested to know more about our ingredients – there are chapters on the processing methods and the raw materials used, as well as on the characteristics of the fats themselves. All are very important in determining the texture of the final product and the actual choice available has now become more restricted within the EU. For a product to be labelled chocolate only certain processes can be used and the raw material is limited to 6 clearly defined sources (7 if ice-cream coatings are included). The other processes are, however, still able to be used to manufacture confectionery, as are other raw ingredients. In this case however the product, which could be a compound coating or filling, must be labelled differently e.g. chocolate flavoured coating.

This legislation varies around the world and the author takes this into account and reviews the standards not only in the EU, but also in detail the Codex Alimentarius and regulations in the USA and in Japan. This is often a brave thing to do as changes can soon make a book out of date. In this case, however, many changes have just occurred, so it is a very good time to review them and hopefully it will be several years before any more important alterations take place.

A major cause of consumer complaints in the confectionery industry is bloom. This is when fat or sugar bloom crystals appear on the surface, giving it the appearance of being mouldy. This can be due to poor manufacturing or storage conditions or because of fat migration within the product. The book includes a chapter on this, which also has a section on fat rancidity. The latter tends to be more of a problem with coatings rather than chocolate products.

Confectionery fats are used in chocolate, fillings, such as centre creams and truffles, as well as some sugar confectionery. The book largely concentrates on chocolate and indeed includes a section on its manufacture and use, for those not familiar with these processes.

In the introduction the author stated the aim of producing a book that would "remain on the laboratory bench, not on the library shelf". From my point of view he has certainly done that and my copy will remain close at hand for easy reference. It is a very well written book that will be very useful for people working with confectionery fats.

Dr Fred R. Paulicka, President, Northeast Consultant Resources Inc, Berea, Ohio, USA, writing in Lipid Technology, May 2003, Vol.15, p.52.......

This book is organized into a Preface, ten Chapters, an extensive References list and four Appendices covering all aspects of the vast and complex subject of worldwide confectionery fats. The author states in the Preface that his aim in writing this handbook is to provide, in a single volume, all available global information about confectionery fats. What the reader experiences after the Preface is a comprehensive and authoritative view of the world of edible fats and oils which "are characterized by the archetypal confectionery fat, cocoa butter". The reader is presented with the proposition that the studies of cocoa butter and all the results and consequences of the many attempts to create equivalents, which simulate its properties, provide the underlying driving force for the understanding of the chemical and physical properties of confectionery fats in particular, and of all fats in general.

In the Introduction (Chapter 1), confectionery types are defined. While the handbook deals with the fats used to make sugar and chocolate confectionery, its major emphasis is on the latter.

Definitions of the various types of chocolate confectionery fat are presented

Chapter 2 deals with the physical chemistry of fats including: polymorphism, phase behaviour, crystallization and other phase changes and finally how these phenomena are related to the triacylglycerol composition of fats. Chapter 3 deals with the analytical methods and describes not only the more common methods used to characterize fats in general, but others which are specific to confectionery fats. Such methods include: Solid Fat Index (SFI) and Solid Fat Content (SFC) (dilatometry and low- resolution NMR are described), importance of tempering in sample preparation for determinations by SFC and SFI, importance of various measurement procedures for SFC and the experimental errors for SFI and SFC determinations run on chocolate confectionery; fatty acid composition by gas chromatography (packed column and capillary column) and the accuracy of fatty acid composition results, triacylglycerol composition [by calculation using Van der Wal's hypothesis, thin layer chromatography (TLC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas-liquid chromatography (GLC)]; diacylglycerol content by GLC and HPLC; differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and differential thermal analysis (DTA); X-ray diffractometry (XRD); cooling curves [by DSC, temperature-programmed XRD, SFC, Shukoff Cooling Curve (SCC) and Jensen Cooling Curve (JCC)]; thermo-rheography (method for studying and characterizing the crystallization of a fat or chocolate) and Blue Value or the special IOCCC method for determination of percentage of shell fat in cocoa butter.

Chapter 4 describes in detail all the usual processing methods used in the production of confectionery fats including: extraction and handling of crude oils and fats, refining (degumming, neutralization/de-acidification and bleaching), deodorization (including physical refining) and its desirable and undesirable changes on the resultant oil or fat, fractionation (dry and wet or solvent fractionation are described and their comparative efficiency of separation is described in terms of the degree of mother liquor entrainment found in the desired solid fat fractions), hydrogenation (selective and in-selective processes are described as well as the difference in process conditions employed in the hardening of highly unsaturated type fats and lauric type fats), interesterification (random; directed, non-random; chemically-catalyzed and enzymic-catalyzed) and the different means of direction of interesterification (by crystallization, distillation or 1- and 3- position specific enzymes or lipases) and blending of various components produced by any of the afore-mentioned processes. Especially useful is the detailed discussion and development of the quantitative expressions used in calculating the predicted Type 1 (additive) or Type 2 (non-additive) parameters from the known parameters of the blended components.

Chapter 5 describes raw materials which are of particular interest because of their use in the production of confectionery fats. Cocoa beans are described as the essential raw material used in the production of cocoa products and the key steps in processing beans for desired flavour include fermentation and roasting. Detailed descriptions of the processing to produce cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and cocoa powder are provided. Milk and milk processing to produce fat and non-fat milk components, important constituents (milk fat, milk powders and milk crumb) of chocolate are described. Raw materials, other than cocoa beans, important in the production of confectionery are identified (including palm oil, palm kernel oil, illipe, shea, sal, kokum and mango kernel fats) along with important details of their source, processing and triacylglycerol compositions. Mentioned are the well-known liquid oil sources that are hydrogenated to produce high-trans-type confectionery fat (soybean, rapeseed, cottonseed and sunflower). Other miscellaneous raw material sources described briefly as potentially suitable for production of confectionery fats include microbial oils, genetically-modified existing agricultural cultivar oils and domestication of new species of seed oils.

Chapter 6 provides important available information on the production, characteristic properties and composition of confectionery fats including cocoa butter, deodorized cocoa butter, fractionated cocoa butter, milk fat, milk fat fractions, hydrogenated milk fat, cocoa butter equivalents (CBE), cocoa butter compatible fats (CBC), high-trans-type confectionery fats, lauric-type confectionery fats and miscellaneous confectionery fats (reduced-calorie fats like caprenin and salatrim, anti-bloom fats and milk fat fractions).

Chapter 7 covers what may well be the handbook's most important information, i.e. interactions between fats, migration, bloom and rancidity. Four topics which relate mainly to confectionery fats (comparison and compatibility; migration; fat bloom; and rancidity) are featured for the first time in one chapter of a single book. The factors must be understood if chocolate and compound confectionery coatings are to be optimally formulated, processed and stored. Those factors which determine the extent or degree of cocoa butter compatibility of a confectionery fat are listed. The use of binary phase diagrams as a means to classify the types of confectionery fats is discussed. The phase behaviour of chocolate and compound confectionery coatings under variation in formulation, processing and storage conditions is predictable.

Fat migration is described as a two-way process of equilibrium between a coating enrobing (the `shell') and an oil-bearing filling (the `centre') – the coating being chocolate or a compound. The migration and mixing of the phases from shell and centre are shown to take place by diffusion. Methods by which migration may be monitored are identified and include: observation, weighing, measuring the amount of liquid oil with time, measuring fatty acid or triacylglycerol composition, magnetic resonance imaging and radio-labelling. Monitoring studies show that migration depends on the temperature, amount of liquid oil phase present in the centre and shell, and time. Means that can be used to prevent migration are listed and discussed.

Sugar bloom and fat bloom are defined along with the means to distinguish which of the two types (or if both) are present. Conditions which cause sugar bloom are listed, and humidity control during all stages of production and storage is described as the only means of prevention.

Fat bloom is defined as different from loss of gloss and is the result of the development of a new phase in a chocolate fat. Such bloom is described as a bulk fat phenomenon, but is usually observed first at the surface of chocolate. Varied explanations of the cause of fat bloom are proposed and the confusion about the "true underlying cause" are attributed by the author as arising because there is not a single cause for fat bloom. Three mechanisms based on studies of phase diagrams have been established as causes: a polymorphic change; a transformation from a single solid phase to two phases, solid plus liquid; and a transformation from a single solid phase to two solid phases. The author describes each mechanism in terms of the explicit phase behaviours that have been observed. Strategies for preventing fat bloom, based on the understanding of the mechanisms of formation, are described. Each are discussed in detail.

Rancidity is defined as the observed presence of off-flavour which has developed during storage of the confectionery fat or product. The three types of rancidity known to occur in confectionery fats are identified as: oxidative, hydrolytic and ketonic. Each is described and, the means to prevent or minimize their occurrence is provided.

Chapter 8 covers applications which include making chocolate: ingredients used in its formulation; milling or grinding of the ingredient mixture; conching; tempering; enrobing, molding or panning; and cooling processes are discussed in detail. Factors influencing the rheology of liquid chocolate are listed and described. The need for tempering and the effects achieved are described.

Chocolate formulations or recipes are given for a variety of chocolate types: legal or standardized chocolate, SOS-type compound (CBE) chocolate, high-trans-type compound chocolate and lauric-type chocolate.

Toffee and other sugar confectionery represent formulations involving the use of fat which traditionally is anhydrous milk fat (AMF). Frequently, AMF is replaced by vegetable fat. Typical recipes are provided. Centre-filling creams and truffles are described briefly.

Chapter 9 covers analysis of the confectionery fat in chocolate, another very important aspect of chocolate formulation. Reasons for determining the composition of the fat phase in chocolate are listed and include: to check compliance with legislation or chocolate standards of identity, to check compliance with formulation (as in the case of compliance with labelling requirements), to determine the composition of a competitor's products, to determine the composition of confectionery fats supplied by a confectionery fat manufacturer and detection of the non-chocolate vegetable fat (NCVF) in cocoa butter. Fatty acid composition and triacylglycerol composition analyses are described for use in the determination of the fat phase in chocolate: the Padley-Timms method is described in detail with emphasis on interpretation of the data from triacylglycerol analysis. The determination of sterols and other minor non-glyceride components in oils and fats are described as a means to identify the presence of NCVF.

Chapter 10 concludes that awareness and knowledge of existing worldwide legislation and regulatory constraints which govern the production and formulation of chocolate using milk fat, cocoa butter, and alternative fats is of great importance.

Finally, four appendices provide: a glossary of terms and abbreviations, a list of confectionery fat and raw material suppliers, a list of confectionery fat brands and their properties and, to enable the reader to keep up-to-date with future technical and commercial developments, web addresses of useful organizations are provided.

This handbook is certain to become the most accessible and readable source of available information on the vast and complex subject of worldwide confectionery fats. Newcomers to the confectionery and fat and oil manufacturing industries, as well as veterans, will find it most useful. Research and development scientists, food scientists, product developers and formulators, engineers, manufacturing personnel, marketing managers and technical service specialists working in the related industries will find this a `must own' reference. Prominent food science and food engineering departments in universities would find it a desirable text or recommended reading source in courses designed to cover fat and oil ingredients used in the formulation and production of foods.

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