Palm oil substitution in hazelnut spread

One of the most important components in spreads is the fat phase. The characteristics of the used fat determine most of the quality factors of the products such as viscosity, texture, colour, shelf life, etc. In these kinds of products, the commonly used fat is palm fat, however, in recent years it has had a bad press due to its negative environmental impact and health concerns. Therefore, the aim of our research was to develop a palm oil free hazelnut spread. We investigated the effect of replacing the fat in the fat phase with milk fat or coconut fat to the apparent viscosity, colour and texture properties of the product. According to our results the palm fat had the highest and coconut fat had the lowest viscosity. In texture analyses palm fat and milk fat showed no significant difference in hardness and in work of penetration. Coconut fat was significantly different in every texture attributes from the other samples. In the case of colour measurement all samples were significantly different. Despite the observed differences in some parameters the suitability of milk fat for hazelnut spread production should be further investigated (sensory analyses, shelf-life).