ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the major and some minor sources of lipids. It also explains fatty acids and triacylglycerols because these are the major components in each lipid source, but reference is also made, where relevant, to phospholipids, tocopherols, and other minor components. The saponification is less immediately indicative of fatty acid composition than the saponification equivalent. The latter is a measure of the average chain length of all the acyl chains. The cocoa bean is the source of both cocoa powder and cocoa butter, which are important ingredients of chocolate. The value of cocoa butter in this connection depends mainly on its melting behavior, which is related to the fatty acid and triacylglycerol composition. The term tall oil comes from the word tallolja (the Swedish word for pine oil), which is a mixture of fatty acids with some neutral material (~9%).
