Abstract:The effects of tempering temperature were evaluated on the physical behavior of palm oil-based margarine during various storage conditions.The physical properties were characterized based on hardness,rheological property,instant solid fat content,microstructure,thermal stability and polymorphic forms.The samples tempered at 20 ℃ had poor spreadability and post-hardening occurred during storage.Though the spreadability of the samples was best at 30 ℃;however,the samples were ingeneral too soft with also poor thermal stability;while sandiness happened and the β form crystal became the mass crystallization forms after three weeks storage under temperature cycles.When the tempering temperature was 25 ℃,the samples had a proper solid fat content profile,hardness,and spreadability,with also a stable crystallization network,mean while the stability is better and the crystals mostly present as β’ form under temperature cycles during storage.The study also indicates that the stable tempering temperature is critical.Slight temperature variation such as up to 5 ℃ can lead serious difference of the product properties.
