Potential use of carnauba wax oleogel to replace saturated fat in ice cream
Rafaela Airoldi, Thais Lomônaco Teodoro da Silva, Juliana Neves Rodrigues Ract, Aline Foguel, Heather Colleran, Salam A. Ibrahim, Roberta Claro da Silva
Abstract
Abstract The objective of this study was to develop a wax‐oleogel (soybean oil—SBO, peanut oil—PNO, and carnauba wax—CBW) to be used as a fat replacer for ice cream formulations. The oleogels were structured with 6%, 8%, and 10% of CBW and were characterized by oil binding capacity (OBC), visual evaluation, thermal properties (DSC), and microstructure by polarized light microscopy (PLM). All oleogels resulted in a firm and stable gel for 60 days, regardless of the concentrations (6%, 8%, and 10%) and temperatures (5 and 25°C). The OBC of oleogels at 8% and 10% addition were significantly higher ( p < 0.05) than the oleogels with 6% of CBW. However, the oleogel formed with 6% of CBW showed more than 84% of oil retention after 60 days, indicating that the 6% of CBW was sufficient to develop a network that could hold the liquid oil into a gel‐like structure. Larger crystals (μm) were observed with 10% CBW addition (2.15 ± 0.16 μm SBO and 2.08 ± 0.22 mm PNO). After preliminary sensory studies, the SBO oleogel with 6% of CBW was chosen to be applied in the ice‐cream formulation. The ice cream preparations were analyzed by overrun, melting rate, fat composition, and sensory acceptance. The oleogel fat replacement (50% and 100%) reduced the melting rate of ice creams; however, it negatively affected the ice cream overrun. These results show that 50% replacement of the traditional lipid phase by CBW oleogel can be performed without causing sensory impairment.