7,767,241 (Aug. 3, 2010), Fuji Oil Co. Ltd.

DRY FRACTIONATION OF FAT

• US Patents No. 7,767,241 (Aug. 3, 2010); Y. Kuwabara, et al., assigned to Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan.

A dry fractionation method for fat yielding a high-melting fraction, a medium-melting fraction and a low-melting fraction can be improved to prevent the medium-melting fraction from worsening the melting properties in the mouth and decreasing in the melting point with the passage of time. It improves the melting properties in the mouth of a chocolate product. The method of obtaining a medium-melting fraction uses dry fractionation including heating a crystal fraction containing a large amount of 1,3-disaturated-2-unsaturated triglycerides to melt the components followed by solid/liquid separation of tri-saturated triglycerides as a crystal fraction, achieving a favorable performance of fractionating 1,3-disaturated-2-unsaturated triglycerides and saturated triglycerides.