Utilization of mango seed oil as a cocoa butter replacer for the development of innovative chocolate

Chocolate is the most popular food type and flavor in this world. The key ingredient in many chocolate products is cocoa butter due to its unique fatty acid profile. Due to the expensive nature of cocoa butter, it has stimulated extensive research for fats that are cheaper and more easily available and can be used as cocoa butter substitutes. The mango (Mangifera indica) is known as the king of fruit due to its rich nutritive profile. The major parts of mango fruit are peel, pulp, and seed. Mango seed is usually discarded as waste which is a source of edible oil (7-12%). The current study was designed to produce chocolate with mango seed oil as a cocoa butter replacer. Mango seed oil was extracted using the soxhlet apparatus and its physiochemical properties were evaluated. Extracted oil was used in chocolate preparation with different proportions (0%, 30%, 70%, and 100%). Furthermore, chocolate was subjected to explore the effect of storage (21days) on product quality and sensory with 7days interval. Current results show that mango seed oil has a valuable fat profile containing palmitic acid (C16:0) 26%, stearic acid (C18:0) 36%, and oleic acid (C18:2) 33%. Moreover, innovative chocolate showed higher antioxidant activity as compared to control in different storage intervals. In addition, chocolate prepared with different proportions of mango seed oil showed higher sensory scores as compared to the control sample. The findings suggest that mango seed oil can replace cocoa butter in chocolate and reduce/manage mango seed waste to improve its antioxidant activity and nutritional value.