Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil (HPKO)

About This Product

Hydrogenated palm kernel oil, usually written HPKO, is refined palm kernel oil hardened by hydrogenation. It is a white solid at room temperature that melts to a clear liquid with a mild, neutral flavour. Palm kernel oil comes from the kernel rather than the fruit pulp, and unlike palm oil it is a lauric fat, close in composition to coconut oil but slightly longer in average chain length. That small difference is why HPKO, not hydrogenated coconut oil, is the usual base for cocoa butter substitutes: its melting range sits a few degrees higher, at roughly 33 to 39 degrees Celsius depending on the degree of hydrogenation, which is close enough to cocoa butter's melting behaviour to imitate the snap and the cool melt without needing tempering. A CBS coating made on HPKO sets in a cooling tunnel in minutes, holds gloss, and releases cleanly from moulds, which is why it dominates biscuit enrobing, ice cream shells and moulded novelties. The trade-offs are the ones common to all lauric fats. It cannot be blended with more than a few per cent cocoa butter without softening and blooming, and it must be protected from moisture and from lipase-active ingredients, which hydrolyse it to free lauric acid and give a soapy off-note. It is used as the hardstock for cocoa butter substitutes and compound coatings, in ice cream coatings and shells, in biscuit and wafer fillings, in non-dairy creamers and fat powders, and in confectionery centres. Bio Green Oils and Fats supplies hydrogenated palm kernel oil to specification on melting point, iodine value, solid fat content profile, free fatty acid and colour, in 20 kg cartons or 25 kg bags. State the melting point you need, since the grade is set by the degree of hydrogenation.