Oleogelation is a promising approach to reduce the amount of saturated fatty acids in solid-like fats without losing its structure. Within the field of oleogelation, different hardstocks are used to structure the fat mixture that is rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Different hardstocks requires different structuring routes to form a three dimensional network that entraps the liquid oil. One of the promising methodologies is the use of monoglycerides (MAG) given their ability to form a gel at low concentrations. This research includes a follow-up study of two dynamically produced MAG-based oleogels. Both oleogels contained 6% of a monoglyceride hardstock (fully hydrogenated rapeseed oil) in rapeseed oil and were stored at 5, 15 and 20°C for 8 weeks. Differences in the cooling rate during production resulted in differences in the formation of the fat crystal network that was analyzed with polarized light microscopy (PLM), rheology and oil binding capacity (OBC) test after a storage time of 1 week, 4 weeks and 8 weeks. Generally, the differences between the two oleogels were more pronounced compared to the differences as function of the storage time and temperature. The microstructure of the oleogel produced with the lowest cooling rate (MO1) showed large crystals compared to the dense crystal network of MO2. These large crystals of MO1 were not able to hold the liquid oil resulting in an oleogel with a low oil binding capacity, rigidity and yield stress. These results showed that the stability of monoglyceride oleogels largely depends on the production process and less on the storage conditions.
OTTO-001: Effect of Temperature during Production and Storage of Monoglyceride Oleogels
