Surface Topographic Analysis of Early Stages of Fat Bloom of Dark Chocolate with 3D-Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (3D-LSCM)

Publication date: Available online 14 January 2020Source: Food StructureAuthor(s): Hiroko Ashida, Akira Morita, Naohiro Karatani, Ryotaro Sato, Kiyotaka SatoAbstractThis paper reports the experimental study for the quantitative analysis of fat bloom formation of chocolate using 3D-laser scanning confocal microscopy (3D-LSCM). We focused on observation of very early stages of fat bloom formation (pre-bloom), which do not exhibit any whitish haze patterns that can be identified by the naked eye or whiteness index instruments. The final stage of the pre-bloom→bloom formation was confirmed using cryo-SEM measurements. The following results were obtained. (1) The initial occurrence of pre-bloom was monitored as concave and convex patterns whose depth and height were of the order of 0.2 μm. (2) The evolution of fat bloom was quantitatively measured as increases in depth, surface, and volume of concave/convex patterns in a separate manner. (3) The total volumes of the convex patterns were larger than those of the concave patterns, indicating that the cocoa butter (CB) molecules forming the convex patterns were supplied not only from the surface but also from the interior of the chocolate.Graphical abstract
Source: Food Structure - Category: Food Science Source Type: research