Engineering the nucleation of edible fats using a high behenic acid stabilizer

Abstract

A stabilizer high in behenic acid (HBS) was used to control nucleation of edible fats. The addition of HBS led to an enhanced nucleation of anhydrous milk fat (AMF) and palm oil (PO) which had lower levels of high melting triacylglycerols (HMTs) (melting point >30°C, relative to the temperature used to crystallize samples) compared to other fats. With the addition of 1.5% HBS, there was an increase in crystallization onset temperatures and density of the microstructure in these two fats. Further studies were conducted to investigate the interactions between HBS and specific homogeneous triacylglycerols (TAGs) or a mixture of triacylglycerols. HBS displayed solid‐state incompatibility (eutectic behavior) with tripalmitin and tristearin, whereas it displayed compatibility (monotectic partial solid solution formation) behavior when mixed with the high‐melting milk fat fraction (HMF). This suggests two mechanisms for nucleation enhancement of HBS. One mechanism would involve surface nucleation on top of pre‐formed TAG surfaces, for tripalmitin and tristearin, while the other mechanism would involve additionally co‐crystallization with the nucleating agent, for the case of milkfat's HMF.Practical application: HBS may be used to accelerate the nucleation of PO, AMF, and HMF. A slow crystallization behavior of PO often leads to post‐hardening problems and a long α‐lifetime. Thus, HBS has a potential to solve these issues. Our results showed that HBS is more effective on fats with relatively low amounts of HMTs (20–50%). In addition, the nucleation enhancing mechanism of HBS was more effective in a mixture of TAGs, rather than in pure TAGs.High behenic acid stabilizers (HBS) are used to stabilize fat‐structured and oil‐rich food products. It is shown that HBS interacts with high‐melting triacylglycerols (HMTs) present in the fats and oils to be stabilized and reduces their free energy of nucleation, as shown in the graphical abstract. This leads to the formation of large numbers of smaller, stabilizing crystals in the system. Moreover, it also shown that HBS interacts differently with different HMTs. It displays incompatibility with tristearin and tripalmitin but displays compatibility with the high melting fraction of milkfat. A greater molecular compatibility is postulated to lead to greater stabilization.