Palm | Kelapa Sawit

I'm just staring at the box of J.Co Donuts that some public relations lady dropped off on the editors' table. Mmm ... smells good.

That got me thinking of J.Co Donuts founder Johnny Andrean saying the frying, dough and topping fats forms the bulk of the cost in a finished doughnut. He also said using the right blend of oils and fats gives the right flavour and texture.

Incidentally, all other doughnut specialty shops in Malaysia like Big Apple and Dunkin' Donuts use palm olein and baking fat because it can withstand extreme deepfry heat and sets quickly on cooling.

That is how you get a firm doughnut and best of all, it does not weep oil into the packaging. Palm olein is also a favourite frying medium because its natural antioxidants — vitamin A and E — protects against off-flavours.

In the US, doughnuts are a big business. Donuts cannot be fried in canola oil, soy oil or any other liquid oils. These soft oils leach out of the doughnut. Other than an oily mess, the doughnuts smell and taste bad because soft oils oxidise easily in extreme deepfry heat. In overcoming this 'weepy' and off-flavour problem, doughnuts are fried in solid fats.

Food scientists in the US make solid fats by hydrogenating soft oils like soya oil, canola, cottonseed and sunflower. All was well until in the last decade or so, mounting medical studies revealed that the hydrogenation of soft oils resulted in the deadly trans fat that is linked with health problems like heart disease and stroke.

This prompted the US government to legislate against artery-clogging trans fat. New York City has started the ball rolling and now, California state is banning trans fat from consumers' diet.

Big doughnut franchisors like Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme, in doing away with the deadly trans fat, have switched over from using partially-hydrogenated soft oils to heart-healthy palm olein and bakery fat.

Following cleverboy's comment, Business Times Malaysia has contacted IOI Group's Loders Croklaan in north America. A big thank you to IOI Group's Lee Yeow Seng for promptly facilitating this interview with Loders Croklaan vice president of R&D and marketing Dr Gerald McNeill.