Abstract
Several scientific investigations have focused on providing new strategies for supporting the development of low saturated and zero trans lipid materials, as healthier fat alternatives for food application. This work evaluated the consistency, crystallization behavior, microstructure and polymorphism of six blends composed of palm and canola oils at different concentrations (100:0, 80:20, 60:40, 40:60, 20:80 and 0:100, in w/w%) added with 5.0% of fully hydrogenated palm oil (FHPO) or with a mixture of 2.5% of FHPO and 2.5% of sorbitan monostearate (SMS). The results were compared with the non-structured blends (standard samples). Through microstructure images, the formation of a more homogeneous and denser packed crystal network was observed for samples added with both crystallization modifiers (FHPO/SMS) compared to the corresponding standard samples, after stabilization at 25 °C during 3 h. In particular, enhanced crystallization modifications were observed for the 40:60 blend, in which the crystal form β' emerged after the addition of FHPO/SMS. Moreover, the 40:60 blend structured with FHPO/SMS showed increased consistency (from 30 to 658 g(F)/cm(2)) and induced onset crystallization in a higher temperature (from 13.1 to 23.9 °C) compared with the non-structured one, due to the specific crystallization effects provided by both added structurants.