Development of edible tallow fractions for specialty fat uses

Edible beef tallow was effectively fractionated by an acetone crystallization procedure to yield five fractions: two solid glyceride fractions comprising 14% (ca. 7% each) of the original tallow; two liquid fractions of 59% and 7%; and one semisolid fraction of 20%. The solid glycerides were composed of ca. 80% saturates (saturated fatty acid glyceride components), approximately an equal mixture of palmitate and stearate, with oleate as the principal unsaturate. The liquid glycerides were composed of more than 65% unsaturates (unsaturated fatty acid glyceride components), predominantly oleate, with the saturates a 3:1 mixture of palmitate and stearate. The semisolid glyceride fraction was similar to cocoa butter. It was one‐third unsaturated, mainly oleate with the saturates a mixture of palmitate and stearate. The thermal behavior of the fractions was studied by differential scanning calorimetry. The liquid fraction had a differential scanning calorimetry final melting profile similar to commercial salad oil and the profile of the semisolid fraction resembled that of cocoa butter. The semisolid fraction appeared to be compatible with cocoa butter over a wide range. Mixtures of 5 and 50% cocoa butter with the semisolid fraction had melting profiles similar to that of the original cocoa butter.