Wild Arctic Raw Materials and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Use in the Functional Chocolate Truffle Development

Abstract

The development of the Far North territories and the formulation of the functional products contributing to the population adaptation to difficult climatic living conditions are strategically important tasks for Russia. The research aims at developing a functional truffle formulation using wild Arctic berry raw materials enriched with ω-3, 6, 9 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The thesis presents chemical composition of berries growing in the Arctic zone of Russia, the PUFAs content in the vegetable oils used such as amaranth, linseed, sea buckthorn, milkthistle, ginger. The authors found the optimal composition of the applied vegetable oils and the model ganache filling formulation; developed a technology for functional truffle “Severnoe Solnce”, including the stages of heating sea buckthorn and cloudberry puree with glucose syrup, dextrose and sorbitol to a temperature of 40–45 °C, heating white chocolate with cocoa butter to 45 °C, creaming the mass into the emulsion using a blender for 2–3 minutes, adding butter and PUFAs compositions until a mass temperature of 32–35 °C, crystallizing of the produced ganache at 16–18 °C for 12–16 hours, molding of truffle semi-product and glazing it with dark chocolate. The research contains the results of the quality and safety indicator study of the developed candies, an organoleptic assessment, a sensory profile of the developed candy which can be used to identify it. The developed truffles are high-calorie. 100 grams of sweets contain 498 kcal. A serving of 50 g (5 pcs.) truffles contains 11.64 % PUFAs, of which 5.16 % omega-3, 6.48 % omega-6. The content of squalene is 15.1 %, tocopherol – 26.61 % of the recommended daily value, enabling to classify the developed chocolate product – truffle “Severnoe Solnce” as a functional product. The results of microbiological research confirm the safety of the developed products throughout the entire shelf life. The shelf life is 90 days at a temperature not above 16–18 °C.