Impacts of roasting temperatures on the structural and quality characteristics of cottonseed kernel and its butter products

Authors: He, Zhongqi; Rogers, Stephen; Nam, Sunghyun; Pelitire, Scott; Klasson, Kjell; Olanya, Ocen; Uknalis, Joseph

Submitted to: ACS Food Science and Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/13/2025
Publication Date: 8/25/2025
Citation: He, Z., Rogers, S.I., Nam, S., Pelitire, S.M., Klasson, K.T., Olanya, O.M., Uknalis, J. 2025. Impacts of roasting temperatures on the structural and quality characteristics of cottonseed kernel and its butter products. ACS Food Science and Technology. Acticle 5c00197. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.5c00197?urlappend=%3Fref%3DPDF&jav=VoR&rel=cite-as.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.5c00197?urlappend=%3Fref%3DPDF&jav=VoR&rel=cite-as

Interpretive Summary: Glandless cottonseed kernels could be used to make plant-based butter food products. Roasting temperatures in the testing range (110 °C to 150 °C) impacted both structural and quality properties of the Gl cottonseed kernels and their corresponding cottonseed butter samples. Generally, higher roasting temperatures darkened cottonseed kernels, ruptured the oil bodies, but did not greatly impact tocopherols, the content of its major antioxidant component. Similarly, higher roasting temperatures made cottonseed butter products darker and harder, but still in the acceptable ranges. Roasting temperatures made little to mild changes on the butter particle shape and size distribution pattern. While the oxidation stability decreased linearly with the roasting temperatures, addition of extra crude cottonseed oil not only improved the spreadability of cottonseed butter, but also increased the oxidation stability to extend cottonseed butter shelf life.

Technical Abstract: Roasting is a thermal processing treatment used in many food applications for agricultural products. Roasting temperature is a critical parameter in plant butter production. In this work, we evaluated the impacts of roasting temperatures on the structural and quality characteristics of glandless (Gl) cottonseed kernels and the corresponding cottonseed butter products. Gl cottonseed kernels were roasted in a convection oven for 15 min at 110, 120, 130, 140, and 150 °C, respectively. Higher roasting temperatures darkened cottonseed but did not impact the content of its major antioxidant component tocopherols. Electron microscopic images demonstrated that roasting treatment disrupted or ruptured oil body membranes, thus making oil more available for extraction and digestion in cottonseed processing and consumption. Roasted kernels were then ground and homogenized with additional crude cottonseed oil, table salt, and cane sugar to produce cottonseed butter products. High roasting temperatures deepened the color of these butter products and increased firmness, spreadability, and adhesiveness values. The induction time of accelerated oxidation of these butter products was gradually reduced from 274 min with the 110 °C roasting temperature to 176 min with 150 °C roasting temperature. The shelf life against oxidation was predicted to be 311 days at 20 °C, and 541 days at 25 °C with the butter sample prepared from the 140 °C roasted kernels. It appears that the high tocopherol content in the crude oil played a major role in mitigating cottonseed butter oxidation and extending.