Physicochemical and textural properties of puff pastry margarines

In this paper some physicochemical and textural characteristics of four puff pastry margarines are defined: MLT1 and MLT2 with low trans fatty acid (TFA) content, MLT3 with relatively low and MLT4 with high TFA content. Analyzing the solid trigliceride content (SFC), the crystallization kinetics in isothermal conditions and the margarine firmness, it is determined whether the technological characteristics of margarines (which are very important for puff pastry quality) are significantly changed due to TFA decrease in margarines. The highest SFC at 10, 20, 25 i 30°C have samples MLT1 and MLT4. Despite of significant differences in fatty acid composition of these margarines, SFC content at temperatures at 20, 25, and 30°C do not differ significantly, at the level of significance of 95% (p>0.05). The SFC of MLT1 and MLT2 samples, which have practically the same fatty acid composition at every investigated temperature, statistically have significant difference (p<0.05). The crystallization kinetics are in the range from 2.6 to 10.1% per min. The significance of the induction period at every observed samples is negligible. The average firmness of margarine samples MLT1, MLT2, MLT3, and MLT4 at 20, 25, and 30°C is significantly different (p<0.05). The firmness changes of the samples MLT1 and MLT2 in the most important temperature interval for puff pastry production (between 20 and 30°C) are at level of 5 to 25%, and for margarine samples MLT3 and MLT4 these values reach even 70%.