Trans-free vanaspati containing ternary blends of palm oil-palm stearin-palm olein and palm oil-palm stearin-palm kernel olein

Four samples of trans-free vanaspati were made using palm oil-palm stearin- palm olein (PO-POs-POo) blends (set A) and another four samples (set B) usi ng palm oil-palm stearin-palm kernel olein (PO-POs-PKOo). Palm stearin iodi ne value [iodine Value (IV), 30] and soft palm stearin (IV, 44) were used i n this study. The products were evaluated for their physical and chemical p roperties. It was observed that most of the vanaspati were granular (grainy ) and had a shiny appearance. Chemical analyses indicated that vanaspati co nsisting of PO-POs-POo had higher IV (47.7-52.4) than the PO-POs-PKOo vanas pati (37.5-47.3). The higher IV demonstrated by set A samples was due to th eir higher content of unsaturated fatty acids, 46.0-50.0% compared to 36.6- 45.0% in set B. Decreasing the amount of palm oil while increasing palm ste arin in the formulations resulted in higher slip melting points and higher yield values. Eutectic interaction was observed in PO-POs-PKOo blends. The beta' crystalline form was predominent in PO-POs-POo samples (set A). One f ormulation in set B exhibited beta crystallinity. From the differential sca nning calorimetry thermograms, samples in set B showed a high peak at the l ow-melting region as well as a high peak at the high-melting region. In set A, the peak at the low-melting region was relatively lower.