Engineering rheological properties of edible oleogels with ethylcellulose and lecithin

M Aguilar-Zárate; B A Macias-Rodriguez; J F Toro-Vazquez; A G Marangoni

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.10.032

Engineering rheological properties of edible oleogels with ethylcellulose and lecithin

Carbohydr Polym. 2019 Feb 1:205:98-105. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.10.032. Epub 2018 Oct 12.

Authors

M Aguilar-Zárate¹, B A Macias-Rodriguez², J F Toro-Vazquez¹, A G Marangoni³

Affiliations

¹ Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Centro de Investigación y Estudios de Posgrado, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, 78210 Mexico.
² Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1 Canada.
³ Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1 Canada. Electronic address: amarango@uoguelph.ca.

PMID: 30446154
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.10.032

Abstract

Addition of 1% (w/w) soy lecithin increased the shear moduli 10-fold and gel hardness 20-fold for 10% ethylcellulose (EC) oleogels. Higher lecithin addition levels or addition to gels with a higher EC concentration caused smaller increases. Similar trends were observed in the penetration force of the gels. Gels displayed thermal reversibility and a high temperature plateau at T≈120-130 °C. Large amplitude oscillatory shear rheology demonstrated similar solid-to-fluid transitions indicating that the polymer drives elastic softening and failure of the network. However, EC oleogels differed in their resistance to flow: the addition of unsaturated lecithin promoted a more gradual thickening response compared to gels containing saturated lecithin or only EC (the last two types of gels display strong intra-cycle thickening and thinning, more indicative of brittle failure). The thickening response of EC oleogels containing unsaturated lecithin, resembles more closely that of a model edible fat (lard).

Keywords: Ethylcellulose; LAOS; Lecithin; Mechanical properties; Oleogel; Rheology.