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DSC of Butter Fats and Margarine
Introduction
Butter is made by the mechanical blending of droplets of fat from cow’s milk. Household butter is a water-in-oil emulsion containing about 15% water. Water-free butterfat is not only used for roasting but also for the manufacture of foodstuffs. Besides its typical buttery taste, the rheological properties, the texture and the appearance of the foodstuff are also influenced by the seasonal variation of its composition.
In contrast to many fats of plant origin, which consist mainly of three or four fatty acids (as glycerides), butter contains about 10 important fatty acids with 4 to 24 carbon atoms. The changing fatty acid content originating from the seasonal variations in the animal feed influences the crystallization of butter and through this its physical properties. For example, summer butter (at the same temperature) is appreciably softer than winter butter, which is the reason why butter taken directly from the refrigerator in winter is more difficult to spread. The foodstuffs industry in particular is very interested in standardized butterfats. These can be produced by fractional crystallization. The water-free molten butter is cooled down with gentle stirring until crystallization begins. The (high melting) crystals are filtered off and the remaining melt cooled further. The next crystal fraction is then obtained in the same way. Finally, the native butter has been separated into several fractions, which, depending on market requirements, can be mixed to give standard products. Such special products are required for the manufacture of ice cream, chocolate and pastry, to mention just a few.
Fig. 1. DSC curve of tripalmitin that had been premelted and then cooled at 40 K/min. The metastable α phase melts at 45 °C. The more stable β‘ modification crystallizes from the melt and then at 55 °C undergoes a solid-solid transition to the stable β phase.
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Conclusion
Butter and margarine are mixtures of triglycerides whose melting behavior is additionally complicated by polymorphism. Differential Scanning Calorimetry together with suitable evaluation programs allow the samples to be easily characterized.
DSC of Butter Fats and Margarine | Thermal Analysis Application No. UC94 | Application published in METTLER TOLEDO Thermal Analysis UserCom 9
