Wax-Based Oleogels—Properties in Medium Chain Triglycerides and Canola Oil

Abstract

The non-triglyceride structuring of liquid oils, so-called oleogelation, enables new and more beneficial product designs. Natural waxes have proven to be excellent oleogelators due to their wide availability and low inclusion levels. However, waxes vary greatly in their compositions and contain different proportions of major components: wax esters (WE), fatty acids (FA), fatty alcohols (FaOH), and hydrocarbons (HC). In this study six waxes (bees (BW)-, sunflower (SFW)-, ricebran(RBW), carnauba (CRW)-, candelilla (CLW)-, and sugarcane wax(SCW)) are selected to develop a pairwise assessment regarding the major components. Commercial canola oil, rich in minor and polar components, and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), as a “clean” saturated solvent, are used to elucidate the effect of solvent type on the gel forming behavior of 10% w/w oleogels. The gels are analyzed rheologically, penetronomically, microscopycally, and by calorimetry. It can be shown that the solubility and presence of polar minor components are crucial factors in oleogelation. Practical applications: Useful areas of application can be found in products with high proportions of saturated and trans fatty acids, a high potential of substitution, and can for instance include bakery-, meat-, culinary- and confectionary products.