Abstract
Edible oleogels are of interest to many researchers in the food industry. However, the applications of oleogels in foods are limited owing to the demand for food-grade and low-cost gelators. In this study, we investigated a facile and reliable route for the formation of oleogels using lecithin and D-sorbitol as gelators, which are food-grade and commercially available. Grapeseed, olive, rice bran, and sesame oils are used as edible oils and all of which gel at a certain molar ratio of lecithin (40 mM) and D-sorbitol (42–54 mM), wherein the samples do not flow downward in the inverted vials and the formed oleogels are analyzed. The rheological properties of the samples, such as zero-shear viscosity (∼20 Pa.s to infinite viscosity), viscous modulus, and elastic modulus (70–110 Pa) under diverse conditions (i.e., shear-stress and temperature), were explored in detail by steady-shear and dynamic rheology. The mechanism of gel formation was also studied using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique, which revealed that the gel was formed by the entanglement of the reverse cylindrical micelles (slop of I vs q: ∼1) induced by the hydrogen bonds between lecithin and D-sorbitol. Furthermore, the hydrogen bonds were confirmed with the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), in which the absorbance bands of phosphate (red-shift) and carbonyl groups (blue-shift) of lecithin are shifted upon addition of D-sorbitol. Finally, this method to create oleogels of diverse edible oils using lecithin/D-sorbitol mixtures is simple and reproducible; thus, mass production of oleogels for marketable consumer products is expected to be achieved.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have