Guest guest Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 I was reading a lable to a Balance bar yesterday, and have a question on one of the ingredients. What in the world is fractionated oil? Is it in line with hydrogenated oil? I definitely did not sound good. Thanks for all you help, Judy Sanderson, SW MT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 19, 2004 Report Share Posted June 19, 2004 This is what one website has to say about it. Q. These new Appeal Bars use fractionated oil. What is this? A.The fractionated oil is used in the chocolate compound coating. Fractionation is similar to the cold-pressing method and is a natural process using no chemicals, solvents or preservatives. Q. is the process of fractionation? A. Fractionation is similar to the " cold pressing " method. It is a natural process that uses NO solvents or chemicals. It is slower and more expensive than other methods (like hydrogenation), but it yields a higher quality, natural oil. First, the oil is heated and then slowly cooled. As the oil cools, layers (fractions) form at different temperatures. Certain layers are skimmed off at each temperature based on their melt points. This process continues until the oil has been literally divided into its fractions (fractionated) therefore turning a liquid into solid oil with the optimum melt point for confections. Q. is the benefit of fractionated oil over hydrogenated oil? A. Fractionated oil is a natural oil processed without using chemicals or solvents. It is derived from Palm Kernel oil. Hydrogenated oil is chemically altered oil, adding hydrogen to oil. Hydrogenation is the process of chemically altering an oil by adding hydrogen atoms to the oil molecules. This forms stronger molecular bonds, which now require more heat to break apart. This effectively raises the melt point of the oil and creates hard oil at room temperature. Unfortunately, the body needs to work harder to break down and digest these new hydrogenated molecules. Digestion of these chemically altered oils is much more difficult. Hydrogenated oils are widely used because chemically altering an entire oil costs much less then using only certain fractions of the oil. The process of hydrogenating oil is less costly than that of fractionating oil. The process of fractionation is slower and more expensive (compared to hydrogenation), however, it yields a higher quality of natural oil, which is easier to digest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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