Journal of Dairy Research

Table of Contents - May 1989 - Volume 56, Issue 02  

Original Articles

Fractional melting of hydrogenated milk fat

William Banksa1, John L. Clappertona1 and Anne K. Girdlera1

a1 Hannah Research Institute, Ayr KA6 5HL, UK

Summary

Hydrogenated milk fats have been subjected to a process of fractional melting. In five of the six samples, the procedure yielded two fractions, defined as oil/upper solid and lower solid fractions, whilst in the remaining sample, three fractions (oil, upper solid and lower solid) were obtained. The oil and oil/upper solid fractions were rich in short-chain fatty acids (FA) (4:0 and 6:0), whereas the lower solid fractions contained large amounts of long-chain FA (16:0 and 18:0). Triglyceride distributions reflected these differences in FA composition, the oil and oil/upper solid fractions being dominated by triglycerides with carbon numbers (CN) 36–38; the dominant CN for the lower solid fraction was 48–54. Melting spectra, obtained using differential scanning calorimetry, showed that the ability of the fractionation procedure to separate on the basis of melting properties ranged from excellent to relatively poor, depending on the type of milk fat.

(Received July 27 1988)

(Accepted October 19 1988)