| Summary: | Herein, we prepared 1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-oleoyl glycerol (POP)-rich fats with reduced levels of diacylglycerols (DAGs), adversely affecting the tempering of chocolate, via two-step hexane fractionation of palm stearin. DAG content in the as-prepared fats was lower than that in POP-rich fats obtained by previously reported conventional two-step acetone fractionation. Cocoa butter equivalents (CBEs) were fabricated by blending the as-prepared fats with 1,3-distearoyl-2-oleoyl glycerol (SOS)-rich fats obtained by hexane fractionation of degummed shea butter. POP-rich fats achieved under the best conditions for the fractionation of palm stearin had a significantly lower DAG content (1.6 <i>w/w</i>%) than that in the counterpart (4.6 <i>w/w</i>%) prepared by the previously reported method. The CBEs fabricated by blending the POP- and SOS-rich fats in a weight ratio of 40:60 contained 63.7 <i>w/w</i>% total symmetric monounsaturated triacylglycerols, including 22.0 <i>w/w</i>% POP, 8.6 <i>w/w</i>% palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-3-stearoyl-<i>rac</i>-glycerol, 33.1 <i>w/w</i>% SOS, and 1.3 <i>w/w</i>% DAGs, which was not substantially different from the DAG content in cocoa butter (1.1 <i>w/w</i>%). Based on the solid-fat content results, it was concluded that, when these CBEs were used for chocolate manufacture, they blended with cocoa butter at levels up to 40 <i>w/w</i>%, without distinctively altering the hardness and melting behavior of cocoa butter.
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