COMPARATIVE STUDY ON PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PALM-BASED SHORTENING AND LARD

A study was conducted to compare physical characteristics of palm-based shortening and lard. The formulation for palm-based shortening was done by blending palm fractions and soybean oil namely; F91 (70:30) and F141 (65.2: 34.8). The blended shortening and lard were compared in terms of their hardness, microstructure, thermal behavior, fatty acid content, triacylglycerol (TAG) distribution and polymorphic forms. For textural analysis, the palm-based shortening was found to display higher hardness values than lard. Microstructures of the palm-based shortening were arranged and smaller as compared to lard. In terms of melting curves, there were more peaks found in the palm-based shortening as compared with lard. The amount of palmitic acid and oleic acid of palm-based shortening were comparable to those of lard. TAG pattern of the palm-based shortening was similar to lard where mono-diunsaturated group was predominant, followed by disaturated-monounsaturated. X-ray diffraction analyses showed that palm-based shortening and lard displayed βʹ and β polymorphic forms.