Changes in Physico-chemical Characteristics of Some Vegetable Oils upon Blending with Coconut Oil

While working to prepare cheaper and
nutraceutical enriched blends of coconut oil (CNO) for
CNO consumers and non-CNO consumers, the
changes in physico-chemical characteristics of the
blends were studied. Some commonly used vegetable
oils viz., palm, rice bran, and sunflower oils (refined)
and sesame and mustard oils (crude) were blended
with coconut oil (crude) in the ratio of 20:80, 30:70,
40:60, 50:50, 60:40, 70:30 and 80:20 (w/w) at room
temperature and at 65°C followed by physico-chemical
characteristics analysis for smell, appearance, color,
free fatty acids (FFA), peroxide value (PV) and
saponification value (SV). The intensity of coconut oil
smell increased with CNO concentration in the blend,
while color (4.5-53.0) and PV (0-48.5) decreased, and
FFA increased for blends with refined oils (0.06-0.5).
For blends with crude oils, the color, PV and FFA
showed a decreasing trend. When refined, bleached
and deodorized CNO was blended with vegetable
oils, the characteristics studied showed a decreasing
trend. But SV of the blends increased with CNO
(crude & refined) concentration in the blend (190.6-
239.3). Thus, saponification value can be used as an
indicator for the detection of coconut oil blends. It is
concluded from the study that physico-chemical
characteristics of oils upon blending with coconut oil
change depending on the starting coconut oil and it's
concentration in the blends; saponification value can
be used to detect the coconut oil concentration in the
vegetable oil blends studied.