JP6721385B2 - Hard butter manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

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

When eating confectioneries such as chocolates and creams, one of the most important textures is good mouth-melting property.
One of the factors that affect the mouth-solubility of these foods is SUS (1,3 saturated-2 monounsaturated triglyceride) contained in hard butter. Hard butter containing a high concentration of SUS has the property of rapidly melting near body temperature. In particular, it is known that cocoa butter, illipe fat, palm oil and the like contain a large amount of SUS.

However, vegetable oils and fats such as cacao butter and illipe fat which contain about 80 to 95% by mass of SUS alone and can sufficiently become hard butter alone are not only small in production but also expensive, and the yield varies greatly. There was a problem to do. Therefore, although the SUS content is as low as 22 to 60% by mass as compared with cocoa butter and illipe fat, hard butter has been produced using palm oil that is widely produced and stably obtained as an oil resource plant. I've been told.

By the way, since fats and oils are a mixture of various triglycerides, it is common to perform fractionation in order to obtain a desired fats and oils component when producing hard butter using palm oil.

In particular, in the production of hard butter, a high melting point fraction containing a large amount of SSS (trisaturated triglyceride) from the oil or fat as a raw material, and a low melting point containing a large amount of SU2 (monosaturated-diunsaturated triglyceride) and UUU (triunsaturated triglyceride). It is important to remove the fractions by fractionation to obtain a medium melting point fraction rich in SUS with high purity.
As a method of fractionation, after heating and dissolving the oil and fat to be partially crystallized, the crystalline portion is separated from the liquid portion by filtration or the like, and the oil or fat is fractionated by dry fractionation or solubility in an organic solvent. Solvent fractionation, in which fractionation is performed by utilizing the difference, and surfactant fractionation, in which a crystalline portion and a liquid portion are separated by using a surfactant, have been known and used.
Among them, dry fractionation is more frequently used because it is safer than other fractionation methods and the equipment and operating costs are low.

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 generated by dry fractionation are spherical particles formed by agglomeration of fine crystals, so during the crystallization process, liquid parts are included inside the crystals, and liquid parts remain in the crystal gaps and surfaces. It is presumed that this is because it is easier to do. (Non-patent document 1)

Therefore, 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 an intermediate-melting point fraction. However, the liquid portion could not be sufficiently removed due to the above problems only through the dry separation step.

Therefore, when a fat or oil is fractionated by a dry fractionation method, in order to obtain a crystal part with high purity, only the target triglyceride component is selectively crystallized, and in the step of separating the crystal part, the liquid part of the crystal part It is important to minimize contamination.

Here, an operation called perspiration is known as one of methods for suppressing the mixing of the liquid portion into the crystal portion. The perspiration is an operation of heating the crystal part to dissolve a part of the crystal and remove the liquid part remaining inside the crystal or in the gaps between the crystals to improve the crystal purity.

As a prior art relating to the production of hard butter using both sweating and dry fractionation, for example, in Patent Document 1, after heating and melting fats and oils, it is cooled and crystallized, and separated into a crystallized portion 1 and a liquid portion 1 as a crystallized slurry, and obtained. Disclosed is a method for dry fractionation of fats and oils, which comprises squeezing the formed crystal part 1 while squeezing to separate the crystal part 2 and the liquid part 2.
However, according to the method of Patent Document 1, it is difficult to obtain an oil and fat having a sufficiently high SUS purity because SSS or liquid component such as SU2 and UUU is likely to remain in the obtained separated oil and fat.

Further, Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose a dry fractionation method in which a part of the crystal fraction obtained by fractionation is subjected to a temperature raising operation to perspire, and then compressed and filtered.
However, in the method of Patent Document 2, since the structure of the oil-and-fat crystal is weakened by heating, it is easily disintegrated by the subsequent pressing operation, the filterability is extremely poor, and sufficient solid-liquid separation after perspiration is difficult. there were. When the obtained crystal part or liquid part is further subjected to dry fractionation to obtain the medium melting point part, in addition to the poor separation efficiency as described above, the first fractionation step must be completed after the fractionation is completed. Since it was not possible to shift to the second sorting step, the time efficiency was also poor.
Further, the method of Patent Document 3 can remove trisaturated triglyceride but cannot sufficiently reduce the liquid portion containing a large amount of SU2, UUU, etc., and fractionates again to obtain S2U in high purity. Since it was necessary, it was a method with low separation efficiency and manufacturing efficiency.

WO2006/112347 JP, 2004-123839, A WO2005/028601

Kiyotaka Sato's "Confectionery Oil and Fat Handbook", Koshobo, February 14, 2010, p116-117

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

In order to solve the above problems, the present inventors paid attention to SSS (trisaturated triglyceride) in the fat and oil raw material used in the production of hard butter, and made earnest studies. As a result, conventionally, in the production of hard butter, an oil/fat raw material having a sufficiently reduced SSS among triglycerides in the oil/fat raw material has been used in consideration of the influence on the performance and production efficiency of the hard butter. In addition, it was found that the ratio of β-prime type crystals with less mixing of the liquid part is predominant in the oil and fat raw material having SSS within a certain range.
Based on this finding, contrary to conventional common sense, when hard butter was produced using a raw material whose SSS content was increased to a certain range, a crystal containing little liquid part containing a large amount of SU2 or UUU was obtained. Have found that highly concentrated hard butter can be obtained with higher efficiency than in the prior art.

The present invention is based on the above findings, and a crystal part obtained from a crystallization slurry prepared by cooling and crystallization of palm-based fats and oils containing 0.7 to 2.0 mass% of SSS (trisaturated triglyceride) is used. A first dry fractionation step in which sweating stearin is obtained by sweating, and a sweating stearin obtained in the first dry fractionation step is further fractionated to obtain a low concentration of SUS (1,3-disaturated-2-monounsaturated triglyceride). The above problem is solved by a method for producing hard butter, which comprises 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 hard butter having a low SU2 and UUU content and a high S2U content from a palm oil having a relatively low S2U content. ..

First, the palm-based oil and fat used in the present invention will be described.
The palm-based oil and fat used in the present invention contains SSS (trisaturated triglyceride) in an amount of 0.7 to 2.0% by mass, preferably 0.8 to 1.3% by mass. 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 β-type dominant, and liquid component components such as SU2 and UUU are easily mixed in the hard butter obtained by fractionation, which is preferable. Absent. When the SSS content is more than 2.0% by mass, mixing of the liquid component into the crystal part is suppressed during the cooling crystallization, but the filtration efficiency is reduced, which is not preferable.

In addition, the palm-based oil and fat used in the present invention preferably has an S2U content of 35 to 50 mass%, more preferably 40 to 50 mass%. When the S2U content is less than 35% by mass, the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step may contain a large amount of SU2 or UUU, which is not preferable.

As the palm-based fats and oils used in the present invention, palm oil and processed fats and oils obtained by subjecting palm oil to one or more physical or chemical treatments such as hydrogenation and fractionation are independently Alternatively, two or more kinds may be combined and used as appropriate.

Regarding the method of setting the SSS content in the palm oil/fat to the above range, a method of adjusting the conditions for separating the palm oil, hydrogenation, or transesterification may be used, but the S2U content in the palm oil/fat is set to the above range. It is easy to further, and since it is easy to set the SUS content in S2U contained in the palm-based fats and oils to the following range, the palm soft oil having a low SSS content among the palm-based fats and oils, One or more of palm oil having a 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. A method in which the SSS content in palm-based fats and oils is added so as to fall within the above range is preferable. In particular, since the fractionation yield is high, palm oil and/or palm fractionated hard part oil is added to palm soft part oil so that the SSS content in the resulting palm-based fats and oils is adjusted to fall within the above range. The method is more preferable, and the method of adjusting the palm soft part oil by adding palm oil is the most preferable.

In addition, the palm-based oil and fat used in the present invention preferably has a SUS content in S2U of 80 to 90% by mass, and more preferably 82 to 88% by 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 triglyceride) contained in the low melting point fraction in the second dry fractionation step increases, resulting in SUS. May not be sufficiently concentrated. Further, when it is more than 90% by mass, it is difficult to prepare a crystallization slurry and to separate a liquid part, and in addition, a palm-based oil/fat having a low SUS content in S2U is used as a raw material oil/fat, while the SUS content in S2U is increased. Does not meet the objective of the present invention to efficiently obtain high hard butter.

Next, the first dry separation step of the present invention will be described. In the first dry fractionation step, the high melting point fraction (crystal part) in the palm-based oil and fat is obtained by fractionation, and the high melting point fraction is further sweated to obtain sweating stearin.
In the present invention, the "perspiration 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, the above palm-based fats and oils are first dissolved. The temperature at which the palm-based oil/fat is dissolved varies depending on the palm-based oil/fat used, but is not particularly limited as long as the palm-based oil/fat is sufficiently heated and melted so that no traces of crystals or solid fat remain. Specifically, the heating dissolution temperature and the dissolution time are 60° C. or higher and 30 minutes or longer, preferably 70° C. or higher and 30 minutes or longer. There is no particular upper limit to the heating dissolution temperature and the dissolution time, but 90° C. or lower and 90 minutes or shorter is sufficient.

Next, the palm-based fats and oils sufficiently dissolved are 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, but in order to obtain a crystal part in which the residual amount of the low melting point fraction is reduced. Is a crystallization slurry in which the amount of crystals at the crystallization temperature exceeds 21% by mass, preferably 22% by mass or more, and more preferably 23% by mass or more. When the crystallized amount of the crystallization slurry is 21% by mass or less, the S2U component which is 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 reduced. It is not preferable because it may cause a risk.
The upper limit of the amount of crystals in the crystallization slurry is preferably 28% by mass or less, more preferably 27% by mass or less. If the crystal amount exceeds 28% by mass, the crystal component increases but the S2U concentration decreases, which may deteriorate the quality of the hard butter obtained by the production method of the present invention, which is not preferable.

The crystals of the crystallization slurry prepared in the first dry fractionation step of the invention preferably contain β-prime type crystals. When the crystals in the crystallization slurry do not contain β-prime type crystals but only β-type crystals, liquid fats and oils are often entrapped in the gaps and inside of the crystals, resulting in a low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step. It is not preferable because the SUS content in the minutes may not be sufficiently increased. Similarly, in the case where the crystallization slurry is used for the fractionation in the second dry fractionation step, similarly, the β-prime type crystal can be included to obtain a higher-purity SUS-concentrated fraction.

Whether or not the oil/fat crystals contain β-prime type crystals can be determined by an X-ray diffractometer. Specifically, when the short plane spacing of the fat and oil crystals is measured in the range of 2θ:17 to 26 degrees, a diffraction peak corresponding to the plane spacing of 4.5 to 4.7Å is detected, and 4.1 When the diffraction peaks corresponding to the interplanar spacings of -4.3Å and 3.8-3.9Å are not detected, it is determined that the crystal is composed of only β-type crystals and does not include β-prime type crystals. If diffraction peaks corresponding to the interplanar spacings of 4.1 to 4.3Å and 3.8 to 3.9Å are detected, and no diffraction peaks corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.5 to 4.7Å are detected, It is judged that the crystals consisted only of β-prime type crystals and did not contain β-type crystals. If both a diffraction peak corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.5 to 4.7 Å and a diffraction peak corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.1 to 4.3 Å and 3.8 to 3.9 Å are detected, the crystal is It is judged to contain β-type crystals and β-prime type crystals. When the β-type crystal and the β-prime type crystal are mixed in the crystal, the ratio of the peak intensity 1 corresponding to 4.1 to 4.3 Å and the peak intensity 2 corresponding to 4.5 to 4.7 Å (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 formed by aggregating fine crystals to form a spherical shape, 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. It is preferably 1% by mass or less, and more preferably contains no crystals having a diameter of less than 120 μm. If more than 1% of crystals having a diameter of less than 120 μm are present, 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 by a conventional method using a grain 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 and crystallization method used for dry fractionation. For example, (1) a method of cooling and crystallizing the melted palm-based oil and fat while stirring, (2) a method of cooling and crystallizing the melted palm-based oil and fat in a stationary state, and (3) a dissolved palm-based oil and fat. After cooling and crystallizing while stirring, the mixture is further left to stand for cooling and crystallizing, and (4) a method of cooling and crystallizing the melted palm-based oil and fat in a standing state and then fluidizing it by mechanical stirring. Can be mentioned.

Further, when the palm-based fats and oils are cooled while standing or stirring to generate crystals, the cooling temperature may be lowered in multiple stages from the initial stage to the final stage of the cooling process, or continuously lowered. Good. In addition, in this case, "to lower in multiple stages" means that the aging step described below is performed once or twice or more while cooling to the final reached temperature.

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

In addition, in the cooling and crystallization of palm-based fats and oils, when the completely-dissolved palm-based fats and oils are cooled to reach the SFC within the above range, the completely-dissolved palm-based fats and oils may be rapidly cooled. It may be cooled or may be combined to adjust the SFC to the above range, but it facilitates the separation of the crystal part and the liquid part of the obtained crystallization slurry, and obtains them in the first dry fractionation step. In order to improve the yield of the obtained crystal part, it is preferable to gradually cool the palm oil/fat in the temperature range of 35° C. or lower and at the temperature range where crystals start to appear in the dissolved palm oil/fat.
In the present invention, when 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, and if gradually cooled, the cooling is performed. The speed is preferably less than 3.5°C/h, more preferably 0.3 to 3.0°C/h.

Furthermore, in the temperature range where crystals of 35° C. or lower start to appear, during the process of cooling the palm-based fats and oils to a temperature at which the suitable SFC in the above range is reached, the crystals produced by cooling are aged once or twice or more. You may perform a process. The ripening step of the crystal in the present invention refers to an operation of making the 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, at an arbitrary temperature of 10 to 30°C, preferably 15 to 25°C, a constant temperature state, that is, a fluctuation of less than 0.3°C/h, preferably 0.1°C/h. The palm-based oil and fat may be held for 30 minutes to 80 hours in a state of being suppressed to a fluctuation of less than 30 minutes. The upper limit of the number of aging steps is not particularly limited, but is usually 5 times, preferably 4 times.

Although the cooling crystallization conditions are appropriately adjusted according to the composition of the palm-based oil/fat to be subjected to the cooling crystallization, as the preferable cooling crystallization conditions, for example, from the state in which the palm-based oil/fat is completely dissolved, 35 to 20° C. It is preferable to cool and crystallize under the condition that the aging process is performed once or twice or more until the crystallization slurry is obtained at 15 to 19° C. after being rapidly cooled to reach 1 to 2 hours. The temperature transition between the aging steps is preferably carried out by slow cooling.

In the present invention, the addition of seed crystals or seed agents to palm 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. 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 can be improved. In the present invention, the upper limit of the amount of seed crystals or seed agent added is not particularly set, but from the viewpoint of further enhancing the above effects, 0.01 to 0.5 parts by mass, particularly 0 part by mass, relative to 100 parts by mass of palm-based fats and oils. It is preferable to set it as 0.05 to 0.3 mass part. As the seed crystal or seed agent, a known seed crystal or seed agent can be used, and examples thereof include those obtained by preliminarily cooling and crystallizing the raw material oil and fat, oil and fat containing a large amount of SSS, or polyglycerin fatty acid ester. Examples of the emulsifier include polyglycerin fatty acid ester and the like. In the present invention, seed crystals having the same composition as that of the raw fat and oil are preferably used in order to increase the purity of the crystal part.

When a seed crystal or a seed agent is added, the melted palm-based oil or fat is cooled by the cooling method of (1) or (3) above, and is cooled to a temperature not higher than the melting point of the palm-based oil or fat used as a raw material. Then, it is preferable to add a seed crystal or a seed agent. Specifically, while stirring the completely dissolved palm-based fats and oils slowly, it is preferably cooled to 19 to 23° C. and seed crystals are added, and further cooled to 15 to 18° C. for 30 minutes to 80 hours, preferably Is preferably maintained for 10 to 70 hours.

Then, the crystallization slurry is separated into a high melting point fraction and a low melting point fraction. The crystal part separated from the crystallization slurry in the separation 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 large amount of SSS and S2U, and the low melting point fraction contains a large amount of SU2 and UUU.

As a method of separating this crystallized slurry into a crystal part and a liquid part, natural filtration, suction filtration, compression filtration, centrifugal separation, or the like can be used. In the present invention, a press filter capable of performing pressurization and separation at the same time, a pressurizable filter press (membrane filter), and a belt for minimizing the number of machines used and performing the separation operation easily. Press filtration using a press or the like is preferable.

The preferable pressure when performing squeeze filtration is 0.2 MPa or more, more preferably 0.5 to 5 MPa, and further preferably 1 to 4 MPa. The pressure during compression is preferably gradually increased from the initial stage of compression to the final stage of compression, and the rate of increase in pressure is 1 MPa/min or less, preferably 0.5 MPa/min or less, and more preferably 0.1 MPa/min or less. Is. When the pressurizing rate is higher than 1 MPa/min, the SUS content of the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step may decrease.

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

Next, the high melting point fraction obtained by fractionation of the crystallized slurry is made to sweat to obtain sweating stearin containing a large amount of SUS component. The term "perspiration" refers to a heating operation of the crystal part of fats and oils, a part of which is dissolved to separate the resulting liquid part, which is a separation operation for concentrating the target component in the crystal part or the liquid part. In the present invention, it is preferable to cause the high melting point fraction to perspire under pressure during this sweating because SU2 and UUU can be further reduced.
By perspiring 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 is high. Can be maintained in a strong and pressure resistant state. Further, 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 amount of the high melting point fraction dissolved can be minimized.
In the present invention, the high melting point fraction is made to sweat under pressure, so that a SUS component having higher separation efficiency and higher purity can be obtained as compared with the conventional sweating operation.

The pressure applied during perspiration of the high melting point fraction is preferably 0.02 to 2 MPa, preferably 0.1 to 2 MPa, more preferably 0.1 to 1.5 MPa, and further preferably 0.1 to 1 MPa. If the pressure is less than 0.02 MPa, separation of the low melting point fraction during sweating may be insufficient, and sweating stearin having a high SUS content may not be obtained, which is not preferable. Further, if the pressure exceeds 2 MPa, when the high-melting point fraction perspires under pressure, the high-melting point fraction easily passes through the filter cloth, and the separation efficiency between the high-melting point fraction and the low-melting point fraction deteriorates. There is a fear that it is not preferable.
The rate of pressure increase is 1 MPa/min or less, preferably 0.5 MPa/min or less, and more preferably 0.1 MPa/min or less.

The 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 it is preferably observed when the high melting point fraction obtained by filtration and squeezing is melted by DSC. Temperature above the onset temperature of the melting peak and below 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 perspiration of the high melting point fraction of the crystallized slurry is preferably performed so that the temperature of the cake portion 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 pressurizing as described above, and the separation is performed. Therefore, the separation method is a squeezing filter that can simultaneously perform pressurization and separation, a filter press (membrane filter) that can be pressed, a belt. Press filtration using a press or the like is preferable.

When sweating while pressurizing the high-melting point fraction, the heating temperature may be raised in multiple stages from the beginning to the end of the sweating step, or may be raised continuously.

The above-mentioned fractionation is carried out such that the ratio of the low melting point fraction removed by perspiration and the sweating stearin is a mass ratio of low melting point fraction: sweating stearin = 70:30 to 5:95. Fractionation is preferably carried out so 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.
If the rate of perspiration stearin is less than 30, the yield of the high melting point fraction obtained in the step of perspiration may decrease and SSS may be concentrated, which is not preferable. Further, if the proportion of sweating stearin is more than 95, the squeezing out of the low melting point fraction due to sweating may be insufficient and the quality may be deteriorated, which is not preferable.
The sweating stearin contains a large amount of SSS and S2U, and the low melting point fraction contains a large amount of SU2 and UUU. This perspiration operation fractionally removes a small amount of the low melting point fraction remaining in the crystals of the high melting point fraction obtained from the above-mentioned crystallization slurry, and increases the S2U concentration in the crystal as compared with the high melting point fraction. Is to get sweating stearin.

Next, the second dry separation step of the present invention will be described.
In the second dry fractionation step, the sweating stearin obtained in the first dry fractionation step is further fractionated to remove the high melting point fraction in the sweating stearin to obtain a low melting point fraction in which the SUS component is concentrated.
The high melting point fraction in the second dry fractionation step contains a large amount of SSS, and the low melting point fraction contains a large amount of the target SUS.

The method of removing the high melting point fraction from the sweating stearin to obtain the low melting point fraction is to completely dissolve the sweating stearin by heating again, then remove the high melting point fraction by precipitating crystals by cooling crystallization and filtering. Examples of the method include a method in which sweating stearin is repressurized while sweating to remove the high melting point fraction.

In the method in which the sweating stearin is redissolved again, and then the crystals are precipitated by cooling and filtered off, it is preferable to cool the dissolved sweating stearin so that the crystal amount becomes 3 to 8% by mass, and the crystal amount is 4 to 7% by mass. It is even more preferable to cool so as to be %. If the crystal amount is less than 3%, SSS may not be sufficiently reduced, which is not preferable. When the crystal amount exceeds 8% by mass, SUS, which is a target component, may be crystallized at the same time, which may reduce the yield of fats and oils components that can be used as hard butter. Therefore, it is not preferable. In addition, it is preferable to perform press filtration when filtering by this method.
The temperature at which the sweating stearin is dissolved is not particularly limited as long as it is a temperature at which the sweating stearin is sufficiently heated and dissolved so that traces of crystals and solid fat do not remain, 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 is in 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 maintain the temperature for 30 minutes to 72 hours, preferably 5 to 48 hours. Cooling may be gradual cooling, may be rapid cooling, and may be performed by combining gradual cooling and rapid cooling. The slow cooling and the rapid cooling are preferably performed as described above.

Also, when selecting the method of perspiring against sweating stearin while repressurizing to obtain a low melting point fraction, sweating stearin is obtained under pressure and the mantle temperature is raised as it is, and the high melting point fraction and the low melting point fraction are obtained. Alternatively, it may be separated by once returning to normal temperature and normal pressure and then pressurizing and heating again to perform separation by sweating.
The pressurizing condition at this time is 0.02 to 2 MPa, preferably 0.1 to 2 MPa, more preferably 0.1 to 1.5 MPa, further preferably the same as the pressurizing pressure in the perspiration operation in the first dry separation step. Is preferably performed at 0.1 to 1 MPa.
The sweating of the sweating stearin in the method of perspiring the sweating stearin while repressurizing to obtain the low melting point fraction is preferably performed at 37 to 48°C, more preferably 38 to 45°C.

The S2U component is particularly concentrated in the low-melting point fraction obtained through the second dry fractionation step, and the low-melting point fraction contains 85% by mass or more of S2U in the triglyceride constituting the oil and fat, and The SUS content in S2U is 87 to 98 mass %.
According to the production method of the present invention, for example, SSS is 3.0 mass% or less, S2U is 85 mass% or more, SU2 is 5.0 mass% or less, and diacylglycerol is 2.0 mass% or less. An oil/fat fraction enriched in 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 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 lactylate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, polyoxyethylene. Examples of the fatty acid ester, polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester, and lecithin include glycerin fatty acid ester, sorbitan fatty acid ester, sucrose fatty acid ester, and lecithin in the present invention. When the above emulsifier is used, the addition amount thereof is preferably in the range of 1 to 5 parts by mass, more preferably 1 to 3 parts by mass, based on 100 parts by mass of the hard butter composition.
The antioxidant is not limited as long as it does not impair the flavor of the resulting food, but 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 mixed is suppressed, and the snap property and the melting in the mouth are good. Therefore, it is especially excellent as a hard butter for temper type chocolate. In addition to its applications, it can be used as butter cream fats, sand cream fats, margarine/shortening fats, ice creams and ice coating fats, oil phase components of oil-in-water emulsified fats such as whipped cream, and frying fats. Can be used.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples, but the present invention is not limited to these Examples.

(Production Example 1)
SSS content is 1 with respect to palm olein (SSS content 0.4% by mass, S2U content 44.2% by mass, SU2 content 38.1% by mass, UUU and other contents 17.3% by mass) which is a palm fractionated soft part oil. 1% by mass of palm oil was added, 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 and other contents 13 0.3% by mass) was prepared. The SUS content of S2U in this raw oil was 86.0% by mass.

(Production Example 2)
The SSS content is 2 with respect to palm olein (SSS content 0.4% by mass, S2U content 44.2% by mass, SU2 content 38.1% by mass, UUU and other contents 17.3% by mass) which is a palm fractionated soft part oil. Palm oil was added so that the amount would be 1.9% by mass, and the feedstock oil used in this comparative example (SSS content 2.9% by mass, S2U content 44.3% by mass, SU2 content 37.3% by mass, UUU and others content 15 0.5 mass%) was prepared. The SUS content of S2U in this raw oil was 86.2% by mass.

(Example 1).
[First dry separation process]
The raw material oil of Production Example 1 was completely dissolved such that no trace of solid fat remained. After confirming complete dissolution, the completely melted raw material oil is stirred at 40 rpm in a jacketed glass crystallization tank, and the oil temperature reaches 30° C. in 1 hour from the completely dissolved state. And then further cooled at 10° C./h for 1 hour. When the oil/fat temperature reached 20° C., 0.1 parts by mass of seed crystals were added to 100 parts by mass of the feed oil, and the mixture was gradually cooled at 2° C./h for 1 hour. Thereafter, the oil and fat temperature was kept at 18° C. for 20 hours, and the first aging step was performed. Then, after gradually 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 slowly 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 crystallized slurry having a crystal content of 24.7% (17° C.). The crystallization slurry was also used as the seed crystal.
From the crystals of the obtained crystallization slurry, the diffraction peaks corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.5 to 4.7Å and the interplanar spacings of 4.1 to 4.3Å and 3.8 to 3.9Å were observed. Diffraction peak intensity 1 corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.1 to 4.3 Å and diffraction corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.5 to 4.7 Å detected by the 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 type crystals.
When the particle size distribution of the crystallized slurry was examined, the particle size distribution was spherical with a particle size of 200 to 1000 μm, and crystals with a diameter of less than 120 μm were not included.
The crystallized slurry was squeezed and filtered under a pressure of 2 MPa using a membrane filter to separate the liquid part (1) and the 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. while being further pressurized to 1 MPa to remove the low melting point fraction. Got

[Second dry separation process]
The obtained sweating stearin was again heated and dissolved until traces of solid fat did not remain, and then continuously cooled while stirring, and cooled until the final fat and oil temperature reached 37° C., and the crystal amount was 6.0%. A crystallization slurry of (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 the low melting point fraction (2) has an SSS content of 2.6% by mass, an S2U content of 89.7% by mass, an SU2 content of 4.7% by mass, a UUU and other contents of 3.0% by mass, and S2U is concentrated. The oil and fat fraction thus obtained was obtained. The SUS content of S2U in the obtained low melting point fraction (2) was 91.3% by mass. The fractional yield was 18.6% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the feed oil.
A hard butter composition A was prepared by adding 2 parts by mass of sorbitan fatty acid ester to 98 parts by mass of this low melting point fraction (2), and uniformly dissolving and mixing.

(Example 2)
[First dry separation process]
Using the same raw material and manufacturing method as in the first dry fractionation process of Example 1, sweating stearin was obtained.
[Second dry separation process]
The sweating stearin obtained by the first dry fractionation step was heated to 42° C. while pressurizing the stearin stearin at 1 MPa to further perspire to obtain a low melting point fraction (2). The triglyceride composition of this low melting point fraction (2) was 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 was concentrated. The oil and fat fraction thus obtained was obtained. The SUS content of S2U in the obtained low melting point fraction (2) was 90.8% by mass. The fractional yield was 18.9% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the feed oil.
A hard butter composition B 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 uniformly dissolving and mixing.

(Comparative Example 1)
Palm olein (SSS content 0.4 mass %, S2U content 44.2 mass %, SU2 content 38.1 mass %, UUU and other content 17.3 mass %), which is a palm fractionated soft part oil, was used as a feedstock 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, rapidly quench the oil and fat from the completely dissolved state to 30°C in 1 hour, and further cool to 10°C. /H was quenched for 1 hour. When the oil/fat temperature reached 20° C., 0.1 parts by mass of seed crystals were added to 100 parts by mass of the feed oil, and the mixture was gradually cooled at 2° C./h for 1 hour. Thereafter, the oil and fat temperature was kept at 18° C. for 20 hours, and the first aging step was performed. Then, after gradually 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 gradually 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 crystallized slurry having a crystal content of 22.0% (17° C.). The crystallization slurry was also used as the seed crystal.
The ratio of the diffraction peak intensity 1 corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.1 to 4.3Å and the diffraction peak intensity 2 corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.5 to 4.7Å (peak intensity measured by an X-ray diffractometer The 1/peak intensity 2) was 0.4.
When the particle size distribution of the crystallized slurry was examined, the particle size distribution was spherical with a particle size of 200 to 1000 μm, and crystals with a diameter of less than 120 μm were not included.
The crystallization slurry was squeezed and filtered under a pressure of 2 MPa using a membrane filter to separate the liquid part (1) and the crystal part (1). The obtained high melting point fraction (1), which is the crystal part (1), was further sweated while being pressurized to 29° C. under a pressure of 1 MPa to remove the low melting point fraction to obtain sweated stearin. The triglyceride composition of this sweating stearin had an SSS content of 3.0% by mass, an S2U content of 87.1% by mass, a SU2 content of 5.6% by mass, and a UUU et al. content of 4.3% by mass. The fractional yield was 21.0% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the feed oil. The SUS content of S2U of the obtained sweating stearin was 86.3% by mass.
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 uniformly dissolving and mixing.

(Comparative example 2)
The sweating stearin obtained by the operation of Comparative Example 1 was heated and dissolved again until no trace of solid fat remained, and then continuously cooled with stirring until the final fat and oil temperature reached 37°C. A crystallization slurry having a crystal amount of 4% (37° C.) was obtained. The crystallization 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) had an SSS content of 2.4% by mass, an S2U content of 90.1% by mass, an SU2 content of 4.4% by mass, and a UUU other content of 3.1% by mass. It was The fractional yield was 8.5% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the feed oil. The SUS content of S2U in the obtained low melting point fraction (2) was 86.7% by mass.
A hard butter composition D 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 uniformly dissolving and mixing.

(Comparative example 3)
[First dry separation process]
The raw material oil of Production Example 2 was heated at a fat and oil temperature of 65° C. and sufficiently 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, rapidly quench the oil and fat from the completely dissolved state to 30°C in 1 hour, and further cool to 10°C. /H was quenched for 1 hour. When the oil/fat temperature reached 20° C., 0.1 parts by mass of seed crystals were added to 100 parts by mass of the feed oil, and the mixture was gradually cooled at 2° C./h for 1 hour. Thereafter, the oil and fat temperature was kept at 18° C. for 20 hours, and the first aging step was performed. Then, after gradually 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 slowly 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 crystallized slurry with a crystal amount of 25.2% (17° C.). The crystallization slurry was also used as the seed crystal.
The ratio of the diffraction peak intensity 1 corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.1 to 4.3Å and the diffraction peak intensity 2 corresponding to the interplanar spacing of 4.5 to 4.7Å (peak intensity measured by an X-ray diffractometer The 1/peak intensity 2) was 1.1.
When the particle size distribution of the crystallized slurry was examined, the particle size distribution was spherical with a particle size of 200 to 1000 μm, and crystals with a diameter of less than 120 μm were not included.
The crystallized slurry was squeezed and filtered under a pressure of 2 MPa using a membrane filter to separate the liquid part (1) and the 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. while being further pressurized to 1 MPa to remove the low melting point fraction. Got
[Second dry separation step]
The sweating stearin thus obtained is again heated and dissolved at a fat and oil temperature of 65° C. until no trace of solid fat remains, and then continuously cooled with stirring until the final fat and oil temperature reaches 37° C. To obtain a crystallization slurry having a content 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) had an SSS content of 3.5% by mass, an S2U content of 88.5% by mass, a SU2 content of 6.6% by mass, and a UUU other content of 1.4% by mass. The fractional yield was 7.4% with respect to 100 parts by mass of the feed oil. The SUS content of S2U in 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.

<Production of chocolates>
[Examples 3 and 4 and Comparative Examples 4 to 6]
Using the 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 composition shown in Table 1. The obtained chocolate was subjected to sensory evaluation (melting in the mouth) and snap property evaluation according to the following evaluation criteria, and the results are shown in Table 2.

<Chocolate mix>

<Chocolate manufacturing method>
The hard butter composition, cocoa butter, and cocoa mass were heated to 55° C. to dissolve them, and the whole milk powder, sugar, and lecithin were kneaded into a paste, rolled, and then conched to obtain a chocolate dough. .. This 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 (melting in the mouth)
◎ Very good melting in the mouth.
○ Good.
△ Somewhat bad.
× It is bad.
Snapping property evaluation criteria ◎ It has a refreshing snapping property and is very good. ○ It is good.
△ Somewhat bad.
× Sticky and defective.

As is clear from Examples 1 and 2, a hard product produced through a first dry fractionation step and a second dry fractionation step using palm-based fats and oils containing SSS in the range of 0.7 to 2.0% by mass. As for the butter composition, the liquid part (SU2, UUU) was reduced and the hard butter composition enriched with S2U was obtained in a higher yield than the hard butter composition of Comparative Example 1 produced by the prior art. It was
On the other hand, as is clear from Comparative Examples 2 and 3, in the case where hard butter was produced using a palm-based oil having an SSS content of less than 0.7% by mass or more than 2.0% by mass, the Examples Even though the same fractionation step was carried out, the yield of oil and fat components that could be used as hard butter was low.

Claims (9)

A crystal part obtained from a crystallization slurry prepared by cooling and crystallization of palm-based fats and oils containing 0.7 to 2.0 mass% of SSS (trisaturated triglyceride) and containing 35 to 50 mass% of S2U is used. A first dry fractionation step in which sweating stearin is obtained by sweating, and a sweating stearin obtained in the first dry fractionation step is further fractionated to obtain a low concentration of SUS (1,3-disaturated-2-monounsaturated triglyceride). A second dry fractionation step of obtaining a melting point fraction, the method for producing hard butter. Method for producing a hard butter according to claim 1 Symbol placement, wherein the amount of crystals of the crystallization slurry in the first dry fractionation step is greater than 21 wt%. The method for producing hard butter according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the crystals of the crystallization slurry in the first dry fractionation step contain β-prime type crystals. The crystals of the crystallization slurry in the first dry fractionation step substantially consist of crystals having a particle size of 120 to 1000 μm, and the number of crystals having a particle size of less than 120 μm is 1% or less on a volume basis. method for producing a hard butter according to any one of 3. Method for producing a hard butter according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the addition of seed crystals during the cooling for crystallization slurry generated in the first dry fractionation step. Method for producing a hard butter according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that performing the sweating in the first dry fractionation step under pressure. Method for producing a hard butter according to any one of claims 1 to 6, S2U content of the low melting point fraction obtained in the second dry fractionation step is characterized in that at least 85 wt%. The low melting point fraction in the second dry fractionation step is obtained by a method in which sweating stearin is further heated to cause sweating, and thus the hard butter according to any one of claims 1 to 8 . 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 a crystallization slurry prepared by heating and dissolving sweating stearin again and cooling and crystallization. The method for producing hard butter according to any one of claims 1 to 8 .