Spreading the Goodness of Palm-Based Margarine

Spreading the Goodness of Palm-Based Margarine

The Plant-Based Alternative

With billions of people on earth, one might wonder is there enough food for all of us? Food security has become more and more pressing since several years ago. Due to various health, environmental, and social concerns, the global demand for animal sourced products is becoming more challenging to fulfill. Food and agriculture industries all over the world are moving towards innovative and alternative food. According to Fortune Business Insights 1 , the global vegan food market is projected to grow from $26.16 billion in 2021 to $61.35 billion in 2028. And so the spring of the vegan market across the globe makes a lot of cents, pun intended.
Dairy products are primarily sourced from farmed animals. This includes butter, milk, cream, cheese, yogurt, and others alike. A typical fresh milk for example, has been known to be produced from farmed female bovine through strenuous processes. However, consumers are increasingly ditching dairy milk due to lactose intolerance, hypercholesterolemia, and vegan diet preferences, among other reasons 2 . After all, dairy-free alternatives such as almond and soy milk are known to have longer shelf life than its bovine counterpart. Similarly, margarine has also become a great plant-sourced alternative to butter.

What is

Margarine?

When water and fat are mixed, the mixture formed is called an emulsion. There are two types of emulsions; water-in-fat and fat-in-oil. The former is when water droplets are distributed in fat, and the later is when fat droplets are distributed in water. Margarine, just like butter and chocolate, is a water-in-fat emulsion. There are two major types of margarine; table and bakery margarine based on their ability to be spread and shaped, or the technical term, plasticity. Table margarine has soft to medium plasticity while bakery margarine has a wider range of plasticity from soft to hard as it can be used to make various baked goods.
One would need different margarines to make croissant and bread loaf since the textures desired are different. Table margarine on the other hand, as you may have guessed, is purposely made for that generous breakfast spread you enjoy at home. Thus, its plasticity is perfect for room temperature spreadability. Table margarine can be further categorised as refrigerated and non-refrigerated table margarines. Although stored at different temperatures, both types of table margarine are stable and spreadable at room temperature.

Palm-based

Margarine

As palm oil is naturally semi-solid and trans-fat free, it has become the preferred fat in margarine production in many countries. Its semi-solid content is primarily contributed by equal quantities of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids – 50/50 to be exact. This attribute is crucial in ensuring good crystallisation which is the process of solidifying liquid into the form of crystals. A blend of palm oil and its fractions such as palm stearin and palm kernel olein, is good for stable crystallisation which provides the desired solid fat content profile to make margarine.
The major fatty acid found in palm oil is palmitic acid and this enables palm-based margarines to form good aeration of fat and sugar mixtures – an attribute particularly ideal for making bakery margarines. Its fraction, palm kernel oil, is a suitable raw material for cake-making as it provides great creaming properties 4. Palm oil and its fractions are also excellent ingredients for making pastry margarines as they have good plasticity needed to withstand the layering process of pastry making.

Margarine

as an Alternative to Butter

Recently, margarine has been inaccurately labeled as “fake butter” when it is in fact simply the plant-based alternative with similar characteristics and functions. As it is of plant source, margarine is completely free of cholesterol and palm-based ones specifically, have been proven to not lower HDL or “good cholesterol” as previously claimed by researchers 6. Besides, 1 tablespoon of palm-based margarine only contains about 75 calories, while the same amount of butter would give about 25 calories more 7,8,9. The goodness of margarine can indeed be spread-quite literally. Palm-based margarines specifically, have proven to be excellent choices as the vegan answer to butter through and through. Not only does it give an option to those with specific dietary needs, and has the nutritional advantage of being cholesterol-free, but it is also much cheaper too.

Go ahead and cook or bake with Palm-based Margarines with easy recipes found here!

Lets Compare

REASONS WHY

BAKERY PRODUCT

MANUFACTURERS

CHOOSE

PALM-Based

MARGARINE:

References:

  1. Vegan Food Market Size. Accessed from https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/vegan-food-market-106421
  2. Sunidhi, G. S., Vij, R., & Katoch, S. (2021). Comparison of dairy milk with vegan milk of different types available in India.
  3. Noor Lida, H. M. D., Md Ali, A. R. & Muhadhir, I. (1996). Blending of palm oil, palm stearin and palm kernel oil in the preparation of table and pastry margarine.
  4. Mat Dian, Noor Lida. (2018). Palm oil and palm kernel oil: Versatile ingredients for food applications. Journal of Oil Palm Research. 29. 487-511. 10.21894/jopr.2017.00014.
  5. Nor Aini, I. and Miskandar, M. S. (2007b). Bakery fats from palm and soybean oils for shortcrust pastry.
  6. Voon, P.T., Lee, S.T., Ng, T.K.W., Ng, Y.T., Yong, X.S., Lee, V.K.M. and Ong, A.S.H., 2019. Intake of Palm Olein and Lipid Status in Healthy Adults: A Meta-Analysis. Advances in Nutrition.
  7. Nutritive Value of Foods, USDA (2002). Accessed from https://www.ars.usda.gov/arsuserfiles/80400525/data/hg72/hg72_2002.pdf
  8. Food Balance Sheets, FAO (2001). Accessed from https://www.fao.org/3/x9892e/X9892E00.htm#TopOfPage
  9. Calorie Counter Expert- Calories In: Cooking Oil, Margarine, Salad Dressing, Shortening (2015). Accessed from https://st-tech.com/food/calorie-counter/oil-margarine-salad-dressing-shortening