Fat bloom and chocolate structure studied by mercury porosimetry

The structure of dark chocolate samples was analyzed by mercury porosimetry in order to determine whether the formation of fat bloom was related to the presence of pores. The influence of cocoa butter concentration and tempering conditions on porosity were determined by using samples containing 29.5 or 31.9% fat, which were under, well or over-tempered. All Mercury porosimetry analysis confirmed the presence of a porous structure in all chocolates. Empty spaces represented about 1% of the whole volume of a well-tempered chocolate containing 31.9% cocoa butter but made up about 4% of the over-tempered chocolate. A well-tempered chocolate with only 29.5% cocoa butter showed the presence of about 2% empty spaces. From these observations and gas permeability a possible model for the microscopic structure was developed.