Fien De Witte is working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Food Structure and Function research group at Ghent University. Her PhD research focused on fat crystallisation in bulk and fat suspensions. In this research, Fien engaged in closing the gap between fat crystallisation on nano-, meso- and microscale and fat functionality in food products on the macroscale.  Her expertise lies in the domain of fats and oils, specifically in the application of X-ray scattering and Raman spectroscopy.

About the lecture

X-ray scattering for structural analysis of chocolates and fillings

X-ray scattering techniques are important to identify fat polymorphism. Especially in chocolate, it is aimed to crystallize the cocoa butter in the βV polymorph to obtain chocolates with the desired quality in terms of gloss, snap and mouthfeel. In a first part of this lecture, the theoretical background of X-ray scattering is explained. This includes the concepts of X-ray scattering, the equipment and the differences between WAXS, SAXS and USAXS. In a second part, more insights into the application of the different techniques are discussed. This will mainly focus on running an experiment followed by analyzing and interpreting the results.