CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Fat from cupuassu beans is extensively used in the production of candies and confectionery in the northern and northeastern regions of Brazil and is considered a good candidate to partially substitute cocoa butter in these products. However, its melting point is lower than the one of cocoa butter and it produces a dilution effect on solid fat content when used in blended systems. Cupuassu fat does not contain enough solids at high temperature, however, it contains disaturated fatty acids that could be concentrated by oil fractionation resulting in hard fractions called stearins. These fractions have higher melting point than the original fat. Although polymorphism is very relevant regarding industrial applications, the isothermal polymorphic behavior in real time of fractions obtained from cupuassu fat has not been described yet. The aims of the project were the characterization and quantification of polymorphic phases of cupuassu stearins isothermally crystallized at different temperatures, following crystallization in-situ with a synchrotron radiation X-ray equipment.