This fluid shortening, suitable for industrial baking applications, uses high oleic palm oil (HOPO) to replace traditional palm oil which has a high content of saturated fats. When used in baked goods, the high oleic palm oil (HOPO) shortening results in products that retain the physical and sensory characteristics obtained when using standard shortenings. In baking, achieving the desired consistency requires having limited saturated fats in shortening blends. Standard palm oil, a low oleic oil, is commonly used as household cooking oil worldwide. Due to its high levels of saturated fat, palm oil is blended with soybean oil to achieve the desired concentration of unsaturated fats. While palm oil and hydrogenated fats are standard in bakery shortenings to achieve texture and flavor, saturated and trans-fats have detrimental effects on health, and there is need to reduce these fats and replace with unsaturated fats, while still maintaining the physical properties and quality characteristics of traditional shortening.
Oleic acid is a monosaturated omega-9 fatty acid, a common component of vegetable oils. Since oleic acid has well-documented nutritional benefits over saturated fatty acids, breeders created high oleic acid variants of many traditional oil crops, including canola, sunflower, palm, and soybean. New high oleic palm oil varieties contain lower saturated fat content and higher oleic acid content than traditional palm oil. While HOPO is nutritionally superior it still has to be blended and formulated in a manner that has no impact on the use of the shortening by the food industry and does not change the quality characteristics of the baked goods. Development of a shortening formulation that uses HOPO supports the use of nutritionally superior oils while maintaining the necessary physical characteristics of existing shorteners used in commercial baked goods.
Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a high oleic palm oil shortening formulation to use as a drop-in replacement of more traditional shortening in baked goods. This liquid (pumpable) shortening formulation replaces trans-fat without changing the end product’s physical and sensory characteristics and overall quality.
Pumpable high oleic palm oil shortening composition for replacing traditional shortening (that use palm oil and hydrogenated fats) in commercial baking applications without compromising either the physical or sensory properties of the final product
This shortening composition uses high oleic palm oil, but retains the characteristics of traditional shortening, enabling its use as a drop-in replacement in baking applications. The shortening is a blend of two oils and an emulsifier. The first oil comprises an oleic acid content of about 50% or more and a saturated fatty acid content of approximately 35% or less. The second oil has an oleic acid content of about 70% or more and a saturated fatty acid content of about 20% or less. To produce the shortening blend, the first and second oil mixtures are heated in a temperature-control reaction vessel to a temperature above crystallization temperature but below the oil smoke point. The emulsifier is then added under vigorous agitation until completely dissolved. The presence of the emulsifier prevents the separation of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic constituents in the first and second oil. Lowering the temperatures induces crystal formation and once dislodged, forms a homogeneous mixture.
