• Rondou, Kato
• Van Bockstaele, Filip
• Dewettinck, Koen
• Verwaeren, Jan
• Dewinter, Wim
• Witte, Fien De
• Rimaux, Tom

Abstract

Saturated fats are widely used as an ingredient in food to obtain the desired organoleptic properties (mouthfeel, texture and aroma release). Although this type of fat is wanted in many applications, its intake needs to be reduced due to the negative effect of the saturated fatty acids on cardiovascular diseases. In order to maintain the desired properties while lowering the amount of saturated fatty acids, gelled oil systems can be used and structured to behave similarly. Oleogelation is an oil structuring technique in which liquid oil is embedded in the fat crystal network of a hardstock. The production of (semi-liquid) shortenings is an example of oleogelation. The term ‘shortening’ is derived from ‘the shortenings effect’ or the ability to weaken, lubricate or shorten the structure to obtain the desired texture. Shortenings have a viscoelastic behavior and their structure is largely dependent on their composition and processing conditions, resulting in a large field of application. This research evaluated the microstructure development in semi-liquid shortenings (6% hardstock in rapeseed oil) upon storage. The shortenings, produced at an industrial pilot plant, were stored at 5, 15 and 20°C and evaluated from nano- tot macroscale with (ultra-)small and wide angle X-ray scattering, differential scanning calorimetry, rheology, oil binding capacity test and polarized light microscopy at week 1, 4, 8, 13 and 27 during storage. The aim was to investigate the influence of six different hardstocks on the properties (from nanoscale to macroscale) of the shortening and their behavior upon storage.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• microstructure
• texture
• differential scanning calorimetry
• X-ray scattering
• Polarized light microscopy