CHINESE VEGETABLE TALLOW-CHARACTERIZATION AND CONTAMINATION BY STILLINGIA OIL

Samples of seed of the Chinese Vegetable Tallow (CVT) tree, Sapium sebiferum, obtained from trial plantings in the U.S., together with materials obtained directly from a small-scale production unit in China, have been examined. The major glycerides of the CVTs have been characterized and a wide variation in the tripalmitin and 2-oleodipalmitin levels has been observed. The contamination of CVT by stillingia oil has been examined. The major source of contamination occurs at the isolation/separation stage of CVT production. Only very low amounts of stillingia oil are actually present in the seed coat. The wider exploitation of this fat will depend upon satisfactory methods being available to ensure that estolide-type glycerides (from stillingia oil) are essentially absent from CVT.