Effect of biopolymers concentration and drying methods on physicochemical properties of emulsion-templated oleogel

Abstract

In current study, oleogel containing surface-active (sodium caseinate) and non-surface active biopolymers (xanthan gum) prepared in different concentrations through emulsion template (containing 60% canola oil) and dried by freeze-drying. Results showed that biopolymer content affects the oleogel structure: applying the biopolymer combination with increased concentration mainly sodium caseinate, resulted in lower droplet size in emulsions and obtained oleogels with higher firmness and less oil loss. Therefore, samples containing 4% sodium caseinate with 0.2% and 0.4% xanthan were selected as the superior formulas for examining deeply the drying methods' effects (freeze and vacuum-oven drying) on oleogel's physicochemical properties such as hardness, rheology, XRD, color, and oxidative stability. Freeze-drying with higher content of xanthan (0.4% w/w) generated a high mechanical strength oleogel. However, reducing xanthan concentration (0.2% w/w) reduced the gel strength, probably due to not enough viscoelasticity in oil droplets interface. Nevertheless, the charm of freeze-drying method is high-quality dried products in optimized biopolymer concentration due to the water removal by sublimation of ice crystals. Contrariwise, vacuum-oven revealed soft-discolored materials even in high biopolymers concentrations due to the higher temperature and structural collapse. Independence of biopolymer concentration and drying method, no significant difference in XRD patterns, and oxidative stability was observed.