Chocolate Fat Bloom

Fat bloom is inevitable, but once you understand the

fundamentals you can prevent it from occurring prior to
the end of shelf life.
Melissa Tisoncik
Blommer Chocolate Company

tags are the building blocks of a strong foun-

F at bloom is a common occurrence
when working with chocolate products.
It is a physical defect that appears during
dation. A tag molecule is composed of a
glycerol backbone with three fatty acid chains
storage of chocolate and is characterized as linked by ester bonds. This molecule is most
a whitish layer on the outer surface (Fig- commonly illustrated in a chair-like or tuning-
ure 1). Chocolate with fat bloom is not only fork formation. These tags can crystallize in
visually unappealing, but also impacts the six different polymorph formations (Forms I-
flavor and textural qualities, which are im- VI), which have specific melting points. Poly-
portant determinants of consumer prefer- morph Form V is the ideal form to achieve
Melissa Tisoncik is
ence. The phenomenon is not fully under- when working with chocolate. When cocoa
the research and devel-
stood, but research suggests there are many butter is in this form, chocolate achieves
opment manager –
factors which may contribute to fat bloom many favorable attributes such as a smooth, product development
formation such as poor tempering, mixture even melting, clean snap and nice gloss. This at Blommer Chocolate
of incompatible fats, disrupted cooling can be accomplished by tempering. in the company’s
Chicago R&D team.
methods, temperature fluctuations, storage
Chocolate Fat Bloom Previously, she worked
conditions and abrasion or finger marking.
at the USDA labs.
Fat bloom impacts all of us: manufactur-
ers, suppliers and customers alike. It is im-
portant to understand when and why it is
occurring to hone in on the problem and
implement a corrective action. Overall, fat
bloom is inevitable, but once you under- Figure 1
stand the fundamentals you can prevent it
from occurring prior to the end of shelf life. Molecular Chocolate Matrix

CHOCOLATE STRUCTURE
Chocolate has a complex flavor profile and
compositional matrix consisting of sugar, co-
coa particles and emulsifiers dispersed in a
continuous phase of cocoa butter (Figure 2).
Cocoa butter is a polymorphic fat composed
of three main triglycerides (tag s). These Figure 2 ➤

The Manufacturing Confectioner • April 2013 65

Chocolate Fat Bloom

Dirty moulds can Envision that all the tag molecules are mould that acts as seed or site of crystal
initiate fat bloom individual and mobile when cocoa butter nucleation for subsequent deposited
due to a residue is in its liquid state at 120°F. As the mass chocolate. This newly deposited chocolate
chocolate layer begins to cool, crystals begin to form and will form surface bloom. Proper cleaning
eventually a crystalline lattice is created of moulds is essential.
being left on the
(Figure 3). If the tag molecules create a Temper (during application) Figure 5 is a
mould that acts
disorderly nonuniform stacking, fat bloom great representation of improper temper
as seed or site of
formation can occur in the finished choco- that caused fat bloom. Can you see the
crystal nucleation
late product. This can be initiated by tem- layers formed? This indicates that in each
for subsequent perature fluctuations, improper applica- layer the chocolate was already crystaliz-
deposited tion techniques, improper handling or ing as it was deposited into the mould. It is
chocolate. processing failures when working with important to note that the cross-sectional
chocolate. view of a chocolate product can give in-
sight to your bloom investigation as well.
INVESTIGATING FAT BLOOM
Cooling (postapplication) Figure 6 reveals
It is important to ask the following ques-
a common case of fat bloom found right
tions when investigating cause of bloom:
after the cooling tunnel or on retail
• How does fat bloom affect our product?
• Where is it seen on the production line?
• When do we see it occurring? Cocoa Butter Solidifying Schematic
• What is the cause?
• What challenges do we experience while
working with chocolate prior to pro-
duction, during production or postpro-
duction?
Fat bloom can appear in many different
ways, but the following case studies will
give you general guidelines to help deter-
Figure 3
mine the root cause and answer the ques-
tions posed above. Extreme Temperature Fluctuations

TYPES AND CAUSES OF FAT BLOOM

Extreme temperature fluctuations (postap-
plication) The image in Figure 4 shows that
environmental handling conditions were
not ideal. In this case study, bloom has im-
pacted the structural integrity of the choco- Figure 4

late product and completely deformed it.

Poor Tempering
This is caused during transportation or dis-
tribution, e.g., the shipping truck sitting at
temperatures 5° to 10° above the melting
point of chocolate.
Dirty moulds (during application) Dirty
moulds can initiate fat bloom due to a
residue chocolate layer being left on the Figure 5 ➤

66 April 2013 • The Manufacturing Confectioner

 Chocolate Fat Bloom

shelves. This is due to improper cooling. You must look at the cooling capacity and It helps to create a
Chocolate is more susceptible to this type check the temper prior to moulding. thicker chocolate
of bloom if you have poor temper as well. Temper/depositing (during application) shell around the
This is a unique case of fat bloom (Fig- center to prevent
Insufficient Cooling ure 7) which needs to be investigated fur- invasive migration
ther. At first glance, it appears to look like and bloom on the
a milk/dark drops mixture; however, tak- surface from
ing a closer look, you can see the streaking occurring too
in the individual drops. You can perform a rapidly.
quick visual and sensory analysis to test
for fat bloom. Looking at the cross-section
(Figure 8), one can see that the dark drop
Figure 6 on the bottom is very uniform whereas
the light drop on the top is very speckled
Poor Tempering/Depositing Problems and crumbly looking. The taste is also very
dry, void of flavor and crumbly in the
mouth. When you melt down the drops,
the color slide indicates the same color
chocolate. These tests helped draw the
conclusion that this was not a mixture of
milk and dark drops, but it was fat bloom.
Formulation (prior to application) If you
Figure 7 see extensive bloom (Figure 9) and you Visual/Sensory
Analysis of Bloom
have ruled out all environmental factors
Formulation Issue
and production as a factor that may cause
bloom, you need to look at the formula.
There may be an inherit formulation issue
that caused the chocolate to bloom at a
quicker rate when exposed to high heat
temperatures. This type of bloom forms
within 2 to 4 weeks after depositing and is
caused by a mixture of incompatible fats.
Figure 9
Interaction with inclusions (postapplica-
tion) Figure 10 reveals fat bloom forma-
Interaction with Inclusions
tion due to cocoa butter interacting with
incompatible oils, such as peanut oil. These
liquid oils will migrate into the chocolate
shell by dissolving cocoa butter liquid frac- Flavor/texture test

tions, then migrate to the surface and form

bloom. It helps to create a thicker choco-
late shell around the center to prevent in-
vasive migration and bloom on the surface
from occurring too rapidly.
Wet slide test
Figure 10 Fat bloom can develop at many differ- Figure 8 ➤

The Manufacturing Confectioner • April 2013 67

Chocolate Fat Bloom

Combining cocoa ent stages. The timeline in Figure 11 is an be added to a lauric oil-based or a cocoa
butter and a lauric excellent gauge to help identify the root butter-based product respectively. Other
fat such as palm oil cause of bloom based on when it appears products used in final formulations with
or coconut oil will throughout production. Once identified, chocolate are nut oils (enrobed nuts), co-
a corrective action can be taken, but there conut oil (meltaways) and soybean oil (liq-
promote blooming
are also various preventive methods you uid chips). Creating a barrier between the
and result in a soft
can utilize to inhibit fat bloom formation. two incompatible fats is another key idea
texture due to their
to consider. A great example of strategic
eutectic effect.
PREVENTATIVE METHODS layering is seen in candy bar products,
Tempering where sugar caramels create a barrier be-
tween the nuts and the enrobed chocolate
It is essential to understand that the subtle-
layer. Also, a common ingredient added to
ties in this time/temperature process can
inhibit bloom (within the standard of iden-
impact your product further down the line.
tity for chocolate) is milk fat. The medium
If chocolate is not properly tempered, the
chain fatty acids in milk fat can interact
incorrect crystalline structure is formed,
with cocoa butter structure to prevent mi-
which in turn can lead to bloom. A great
gration and bloom.
test to check temper is using the Tricor tem-
permeter instrument. It is a quick method
Proper Storage
for operators to use on the line. The easy
This is something we can try to control
readouts are translated into a number in-
while transporting chocolate. Proper stor-
dicating good, great or need to retemper.
age, whether it be postproduction, ware-
Knowledgeable Formulation house, distribution, customer end or retail
shelving, is essential to prevent bloom from
During formulation it is important to think
occurring before the shelf life expires. At
about the end application and how the
this point, chocolate is most susceptible to
chocolate will function. You must consider
temperature fluctuations. The best condi-
the other fats in the final formulation and
tions for chocolate storage are a controlled
weigh the risk of incompatibility. Com-
environment at room temperature and 40
bining cocoa butter and a lauric fat such as
to 60 percent relative humidity.
palm oil or coconut oil will promote
blooming and result in a soft texture due
CONCLUSION
to their eutectic effect. A good rule of
thumb: a maximum of 5 percent cocoa Currently, there is ongoing research in in-
butter or lauric oil on a total fat basis can dustry and academia which aims to un-
derstand fat bloom phenomenon in choco-
late. Some studies suggest that ingredients
Timeline Gauge for Bloomed Product
such as emulsifiers, seeding agents or even
fruit juices can help inhibit bloom. Fat
bloom will naturally occur after a long pe-
riod of time (~2 years), but if we aim to
truly understand and investigate how it
Bloom can occur at different times and for differ-
ent reasons prior to, during or postapplication.
may occur, we can minimize or prevent it,
1. Immediate: within 12-28 hours thus producing the best possible choco-
2. Intermediate: 1-2 weeks late product. n
3. Long term: 3-8 weeks
Figure 11 Presented at the AACT National Technical Seminar

68 April 2013 • The Manufacturing Confectioner