Omega-3 fatty acids enriched chocolate spreads using soybean and coconut oils.

Chocolate spreads were developed by incorporating
two different soybean oil margarines, fat phases prepared
using 85 % soybean oil (M1) and 1:1 blend of soybean oil
and coconut oil (M2) with commercial palm stearin. Eight
formulations were tried by varying skim milk powder
(SMP)/fluid skimmed milk (FSM), type of fats (M1, M2, a
commercial margarine and a table spread), sugar and cocoa
powder and their quality characteristics were compared with
a commercial hazelnut cocoa spread. The moisture and fat
content were 5–6.1%and 31.4–32.8%for formulations with
SMP and 21.5–24.7 % and 15.6–21.4 % respectively for
those with FSM. Rheological studies of FSM spreads
showed higher G″ value (loss modulus) than G′ (storage
modulus) indicating better spreadability. Descriptive sensory
analysis revealed that the products had acceptability score of
8.3 to 10.5 (maximum score: 15). Fat extracted from spreads
prepared using M1 and M2 was found to contain 43.9 and
22.3 % linoleic acid and 2.1 and 4.4 % linolenic acid respectively,
were free from trans fat while the commercial hazelnut
spread had 9.8 % linoleic acid but did not contain
linolenic acid. Hence, the developed chocolate spreads have
the potential to overcome ω-3 deficiency, ω-6/ω-3 imbalance
and to enhance the health standard of people.