This Springer Brief gives an overview of recent research conducted in the area of oil
structuring starting with a detailed introduction on oleogelation and properties of
food-approved building blocks followed by the discussion of some illustrative examples to
explain the processing steps required for creating oleogels advanced characterization
(rheological thermal and microstructural) and some potential edible applications of oleogels.
The book w concludes with a section summarizing the general guidelines on the properties of
oleogels and practically of approach with regards to the specific category of building blocks
used for structuring. The text also lists some unresolved challenges that need to be addressed
in order to fully exploit oleogelation for future food product development. The functional
application of liquid oils in food product development is mostly accomplished by structuring
them into soft plastic-like materials. This structuring of oil is traditionally based on the
fat crystal network formed by high melting triacylglycerol (TAG) molecules that are rich in
trans and or saturated fatty acids. Currently due to the factors such as the requirement for
trans- and saturated fat-free food products sustainable manufacturing and ethical trade
practices the research in the area of identifying alternative routes to oil structuring (in
the absence of trans and saturated fats) has been regarded as a 'hot topic' in the
bio-scientific community. Oleogelation (gelling of liquid oil in absence of crystallizable
TAGs) is one such alternative which has recently attracted tremendous attention from
researchers and industrial scientists working in the domain of food product development. The
possibility of creating structured gels that contain a large amount of liquid oil (usually
above 90 wt%) opens up many possibilities to develop food products with better nutritional
profiles.
