The present disclosure relates to a method for preparing an emulsion gel-based fat substitute with adjustable phase change and use thereof and belongs to the field of oils and fats and food processing.
The emulsion gels can be subdivided according to the preparation method, raw materials, and composition, such as bicontinuous emulsion gels, oil-in-water emulsion gels, and water-in-oil emulsion gels. The “emulsion gel with adjustable phase change” is an emulsion gel system with adjustable phase change properties, which has the physical properties similar to traditional plastic fats (hydrogenated fats, saturated fats, etc.) that behave as soft solids at room temperature and melt when heated, in which oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsion gels can be interchanged by changing the ratio of the oil phase to water phase. Emulsion gels are prepared by a combination of emulsification and gelling, such that they contain not only the structural characteristics of emulsions (emulsion droplets and continuous phase) but also the characteristics of gels (gel network structure in the oil and water phases). They combine the excellent properties of emulsions and gels and are expected to be ideal fat substitutes.
Currently, gelation technology is an effective method to reduce trans fatty acids and saturated fatty acids in food products, which, when combined with an emulsification technology to preserve both oil and water phases at the same time, allows the system to be more favorable for use in the substitution of traditional plastic fats. In the gelation of the oil phase, small molecule gelling agents (waxes, glycerides, etc.) are common lipophilic gelation factors that can directly gel the oil phase. However, excessive addition of oil-soluble small molecule gelling agents can cause taste and health problems in the product, thus limiting the application of oleogel. Therefore, oil-soluble large molecule gelation factors can be used to reduce the amount of oil-soluble small molecule gelling agents. Besides, excessive oil intake can aggravate the occurrence of diseases such as obesity. To further reduce oil intake, hydrogel is a good soft solid with plastic fat-like properties that can replace some oil-containing substances to produce low-fat products, and edible protein-based or polysaccharide-based hydrogel agents are beneficial to human health. Emulsion gel provides physical properties similar to solid fat and combines the characteristics of oleogel and hydrogel through the emulsification technology, which reduces the consumption of fats and oils and improves the health and safety of food. In addition, emulsion gels with adjustable phase change can exhibit different physical properties in different states (oil-in-water or water-in-oil), facilitating the adjustment of their physical properties to meet the application requirements.
Excessive addition of oil-soluble small molecule gelling agents in gelation technology can cause taste and health problems in products; and the emulsion gel-based fat substitutes obtained by other technologies have high fluidities and weak solid-state characteristics.
In order to solve at least one of the above problems, thee mulsion gel-based fat substitutes according to the present disclosure are prepared by using an oil-soluble polysaccharide, an oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent, a water-soluble large molecule gelling agent, and a vegetable oil as raw materials, dissolving the oil-soluble polysaccharide, small molecule gelling agent and water-soluble large molecule gelling agent in the heated oil phase and water phase, respectively, mixing and emulsifying the oil solution and the aqueous solution to obtain an emulsion, and then gelling the emulsion upon stirring and cooling. According to the present disclosure, an oil-soluble polysaccharide is introduced into the system to reduce the amount of oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent, an emulsion gel-based fat substitute containing trans-freelow-saturated fatty acids is prepared for replacing the conventional plastic fat, and the overall oil content of the emulsion gel is reduced by adding the water phase gelled with the water-soluble large molecule gelling agent. In addition, the prepared emulsiongel-based fat substitute as adjustable phase change characteristics for different application scenarios, allowing the emulsion gel to be more widely used in food products and providing a reference for the substitution of hydrogenated fats and saturated fats in food products.
A first object of the present disclosure is to provide a method for preparing an emulsion gel-based fat substitute with adjustable phase change, including the steps of:
(1) dissolving an oil-soluble polysaccharide and an oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent in a vegetable oil to obtain an oil solution;
(2) dissolving a water-soluble large molecular gelling agent in water to obtain an aqueous solution; and
(3) evenly mixing the oil solution in step (1) and the aqueous solution in step (2) for emulsification to obtain an emulsion; and gelling the emulsion to obtain an emulsion gel-based fat substitute,
wherein when the mass percentage of the oil solution in the emulsion in step (3) is less than 44% and more than 0, an oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute is obtained; when the mass percentage of the oil solution in the emulsion in step (3) is more than 44% and less than 100%, a water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute is obtained; and when the mass percentage of the oil solution in the emulsion in step (3) is equal to 44%, a semi-bicontinuous emulsion gel-based fat substitute (containing both oil-in-water emulsion and water-in-oil emulsion) is obtained.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, when the mass ratio of the oil solution to the aqueous solution in step (3) is 2:8 to 4:6, the oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute is obtained; and when the mass ratio of the oil solution to the aqueous solution in step (3) is 5:5 to 8:2, the water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute is obtained.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the oil-soluble polysaccharide in step (1) is one or both of ethyl cellulose and chitin.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent in step (1) is one or more of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acid, polyglycerol fatty acid ester, sodium stearoyllactate, and sucrose fatty acid esters.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the vegetable oil in step (1) is one or more of peanut oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, corn oil, tea seed oil, sesame oil, olive oil, wheat germ oil, palm oil, hemp seed oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and coconut kernel oil.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the water-soluble large molecular gelling agent in step (2) is one or more of gelatin, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, methylcellulose, and konjacgum.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the mass concentration of the water-soluble large molecular gelling agent in the water in step (2) is 4% to 10%.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the mass concentration of the oil-soluble polysaccharide in the vegetable oil in step (1) is 5% to 10%.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the mass concentration of the oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent in the vegetable oil in step (1) is 1% to 5%.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the emulsification in step (3) is a high-speed shearing at 65-80° C. and 5000-15000 rpm for 1-5 min.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the gel in step (3) is obtained by stirring the obtained emulsion at 15-30° C. (room temperature) and 100-1000 rpm.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method for preparing an emulsion gel-based fat substitute with adjustable phase change includes the steps of:
(1) dissolving the oil-soluble polysaccharide and the oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent in the vegetable oil at 130-180° C. to obtain the oil solution;
(2) dissolving the water-soluble large molecular gelling agent in the water at 65-80° C. to obtain the aqueous solution; and
(3) evenly mixing the oil solution in step (1) and the aqueous solution in step (2), and emulsifying via a high-speed shearing at 65-80° C. and 5000-15000 rpm for 1-5 min to obtain the emulsion; and then stirring and gelling at 15-30° C. and 100-1000 rpm to obtain the emulsion gel-based fat substitute.
A second object of the present disclosure is an oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute and a water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute prepared by the method according to the present disclosure.
A third object of the present disclosure is use of the oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute and the water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute according to the present disclosure in the food industry.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the use includes the use in the flower shaped cream, 3D printing, embedding of active substances, and customization of food products.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the use includes the use of the oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute in the flower shaped cream, and the mass ratio of the oil solution to the aqueous solution is 4:6 in the method for preparing an oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the use includes the use of the water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute in the 3D printing, specifically the use of the water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute as an edible solid material in 3D printing; and the mass ratio of the oil solution to the aqueous solution is 6:4 to 8:2 in the method for preparing water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the use in the embedding of active substances specifically includes the use of the oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute or the water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute as a carrier in the embedding and controlled-release of a water-soluble active substance and a fat-soluble active substance.
(1) The emulsion gel-based fat substitute of the present disclosure is a soft colloidal substance having gel characteristics, exhibiting a semi-solid nature, and possessing emulsion properties, which can be used in food production for the replacement of conventional plastic fats consisting of trans fats and highly saturated fats, and in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and other industries as a carrier for the embedding and controlled release of functional active substances, etc.
(2) The emulsion gel-based fat substitute of the present disclosure is obtained by using the oil-soluble polysaccharide and oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent as the gelation factor of the oil phase and using water-soluble large molecule gelling agent as the gelation factor of the water phase to prepare an emulsion gel with adjustable phase change, in which the ratio of oil to water phases of the emulsion gel can be changed to adjust the type of emulsion gel according to the application scenario so as to meet specific application requirements.
(3) The method for preparing an emulsion gel-based fat substitute of the present disclosure as a wider range of applications and more flexible application methods than ordinary oleogel, and is also faster and more convenient than the production of conventional plastic fats.
(4) Compared with the oleogel obtained by using oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent alone, the emulsion gel-based fat substitute of the present disclosure is obtained by using the oil-soluble polysaccharide, oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent, and water-soluble large molecule gelling agent significantly reduces the amount of oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent and the amount of vegetable oil (the amount of vegetable oil can be reduced to 10% of the system, i.e. 90% of the oil phase is replaced by the water phase) under the action of oil-soluble polysaccharide and water-soluble large molecule gelling agent, and the phase change of the emulsion gel-based fat substitute can be controlled by changing the ratio of oil to water phases to adjust the physical properties of the emulsion gel-based fat substitute, in which the emulsion gel-based fat substitute is in the form of oil-in-water when the mass percentage of oil solution is lower than 44%, and the emulsion gel-based fat substitute is in the form of water-in-oil when the mass percentage of oil solution is higher than 44%. These advantages facilitate the customization of the emulsion gel-based fat substitute to meet the performance requirements of different application scenarios.
(5) The emulsion gel-based fat substitute of the present disclosure is fast to produce, simple to process, and exhibits physical properties under different types in line with a variety of application scenarios; and the oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute can be used for the flower shaped cream, and the water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute can be used for the 3D printing.
(6) The emulsion gel-based fat substitute of the present disclosure is obtained using polysaccharides of plant and animal origin as raw materials, which greatly reduces the amount of oil-soluble small molecule gelling agent and has the environmental protection concept of green and sustainable food development.
(7) The emulsion gel-based fat substitute of the present disclosure exhibits good viscoelasticity, has obvious thixotropy, and can quickly recover not less than 70% of modulus after being subjected to deformation, and has good plasticity.
(8) The emulsion gel-based fat substitute of the present disclosure has a better embedding and slow release effect on both water-soluble and fat-soluble functional active components, which greatly delays the release rate of the functional components.
(9) The emulsion gel-based fat substitute of the present disclosure contains low content of saturated fatty acids and no trans fatty acids, and can be used for replacing traditional plastic fats in meat products, as well as for preparing customized food products, which are green, healthy, customized, and rich in functionality.
(10) In the present disclosure, oil-soluble polysaccharides construct a network structure in oil solution, and water-soluble large molecules construct a network structure in aqueous solution; and oil-soluble small molecules act as interfacial stabilizers at the oil-water interface, so that the oil and water phases are mixed evenly to further form a double network structure, which is completely different from the network structure constructed by small molecules and lecithin at the oil-water interface, which is currently disclosed in some literature.
Preferred examples of the present disclosure are described below, it is understood that the examples are intended to better explain the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. The parts in the examples are all parts by mass.
Test Method:
1. Rheological properties of the emulsion gel-based fat substitute: The test is performed by a DHR-3 rotational rheometer, and the elastic modulus G′ and viscous modulus G″ are measured using a 40 mm diameter steel plate. The amplitude scanning, frequency scanning, temperature scanning and time scanning are performed at 25° C., with the strain ranging from 0.01% to 100% in the amplitude scanning, the frequency ranging from 0.1 Hz to 10 Hz in the frequency scanning, the temperature ranging from 25° C. to 70° C. in the temperature scanning, and the strain varying repeatedly between 100% and 0.01% for 30 s at each stage in the time scanning.
2. Texture of the emulsion gel-based fat substitute, oleogel made of glycerol monostearate and ethyl cellulose, and hydrogel made of gelatin: The test is performed by a TAXT texturizer, and the hardness of the samples is measured by a single compression test using P/25 probe with the pre-test, test, and post-test speeds of 5 mm/s, 1 mm/s, and 5 mm/s and the strain degree of 30%.
3. Laser confocal microscope (LSM-880) is used to observe the microstructure of the emulsion gel-based fat substitute.
4. The infrared spectral data for raw material powder and lyophilizede mulsion gel-based fat substitute are measured by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (Nicolet iS-10), and the spectral data within the wave number range of 4000-600 cm−1 are collected by iTR attachment.
A method for preparing an emulsion gel-based fat substitute with adjustable phase change includes the steps of:
(1) 10 parts of ethyl cellulose and 2 parts of glycerol monostearate were weighed and dissolved in 88 parts of soybean oil at 150° C., stirred for 10 min and then placed in a water bath at 70° C. to obtain an oil solution;
(2) 10 parts of gelatin were dissolved in 90 parts of hot water at 70° C. and stirred for 10 min to obtain an aqueous solution; and
(3) the oil solution in step (1) and the aqueous solution in step (2) were mixed evenly according to the mass ratio of 4:6, and the mixed solution was emulsified for 2 min at a rate of 10,000 rpm using a high-speed homogenizer to obtain an emulsion; and then the obtained emulsion was stirred at room temperature at a low speed of 400 rpm until gelling the system to obtain an oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute.
A water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute was obtained according to the method in Example 1, except for adjusting the mass ratio of oil solution to aqueous solution in step (3) of Example 1 as 6:4.
A semi-bicontinuous emulsion gel-based fat substitute (containing both oil-in-water emulsion and water-in-oil emulsion) was obtained according to the method in Example 1, except for adjusting the mass ratio of oil solution to aqueous solution in step (3) of Example 1 as 44:56.
The emulsion gel-based fat substitutes obtained in Examples 1-3 were tested for performance and the test results were as follows:
An emulsion gel-based fat substitute was obtained according to the method in Example 1, except for adjusting the mass ratio of oil solution to aqueous solution in step (3) of Example 1 as 2:8, 4:6 (Example 1), 5:5, 6:4 (Example 2), and 8:2.
The emulsion gel-based fat substitutes as obtained were tested for performance and the test results were as follows:
Table 1 shows the contents of trans fatty acids and saturated fatty acids in the emulsion gel-based fat substitutes. It can be seen from table 1 that compared with commercially available margarine, the emulsion gel-based fat substitute contained no-trans fatty acids and much less saturated fatty acids than commercially available margarine (45.34%), meeting the requirement of healthy diet for consumers.
The product was obtained according to the method in Example 1, except for adjusting the gelatin in step (2) of Example 1 as arabic gum.
The test showed that the product did not have the structure of oil-in-water emulsion, and could not form an oil-in-water emulsion gel, as shown in
The product was obtained according to the method in Example 2, except for adjusting the glycerol monostearate in step (1) of Example 2 as bee wax.
The test showed that the product did not have the structure of water-in-oil emulsion, and could not form a water-in-oil emulsion gel, as shown in
The product was obtained according to the method in Example 1, except for adjusting the amount of gelatin in step (1) of Example 2 as 2 parts.
After the obtained product was placed at an angle in a transparent bottle, it was found that the product was extremely mobile and a gel could not be formed, as shown in
The product was obtained according to the method in Example 1, except for omitting the addition of glycerol monostearate in Example 1.
The obtained product was centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 10 min for centrifugal degreasing, and the oil leakage rate of the product was higher than that of the emulsion gel prepared by adding 2 parts of glycerol monostearate in Example 1, as shown in
The product was obtained according to the method in Example 1, except for adjusting the ethyl cellulose in step (1) of Example 1 as polyglycerol fatty acid ester.
The products were tested for performance, and the results were as follows:
The obtained product had an elastic modulus of 85 Pa and a viscous modulus of 120 Pa, i.e., the viscous modulus was greater than the elastic modulus, had a certain fluidity, did not have semi-solid properties, and could not be used as a substitute for solid fat.
The product was obtained according to the method in Example 1, except for adjusting the amount of ethyl cellulose in step (1) of Example 1 as 0, 2, and 4 parts, while adding 10, 8, and 6 parts of soybean oil.
The products were tested for performance, and the results were shown in table 2 below:
It can be seen from table 2 that the obtained products had a viscous modulus greater than or close to the elastic modulus, a small modulus and a fluidity, and did not have obvious semi-solid characteristics, and could not be used as a substitute for solid fat.
A method for preparing an emulsion gel-based fat substitute for the flower shaped cream includes the steps of:
(1) 10 parts of ethyl cellulose and 2 parts of glycerol monostearate were weighed and dissolved in 88 parts of soybean oil at 150° C., stirred for 10 min and then placed in a water bath at 70° C. to obtain an oil solution;
(2) 10 parts of gelatin were dissolved in 90 parts of hot water at 70° C. and stirred for 10 min to obtain an aqueous solution; and
(3) the oil solution of step (1) and the aqueous solution of step (2) were mixed evenly according to the mass ratio of 2:8, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, and 8:2, and the mixed solution was emulsified for 2 min at a rate of 10,000 rpm using a high-speed homogenizer to obtain an emulsion; and then the obtained emulsion was stirred at room temperature at a low speed of 400 rpm until gelling the system to obtain an emulsion gel-based fat substitute.
The emulsion gel-based fat substitute was subjected to the flower shaped cream using metal icing head and plastic icing bag, and the obtained the flower shaped cream was shown in
A method for preparing an emulsion gel-based fat substitute for 3D printing includes the steps of:
(1) 10 parts of ethyl cellulose and 2 parts of glycerol monostearate were weighed and dissolved in 88 parts of soybean oil at 150° C., stirred for 10 min and then placed in a water bath at 70° C. to obtain an oil solution;
(2) 10 parts of gelatin were dissolved in 90 parts of hot water at 70° C. and stirred for 10 min to obtain an aqueous solution; and
(3) the oil solution of step (1) and the aqueous solution of step (2) were mixed evenly according to the mass ratio of 2:8, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, and 8:2, and the mixed solution was emulsified for 2 min at a rate of 10,000 rpm using a high-speed homogenizer to obtain an emulsion; and then the obtained emulsion was stirred at room temperature at a low speed of 400 rpm until gelling the system to obtain an emulsion gel-based fat substitute.
The emulsion gel-based fat substitute was printed using a 3D food printer, in which the diameter of the printing needle was 1.55 mm, and the temperature and rate of printing were 25° C. and 25 mm/s, respectively. The effect of 3D printing was shown in
A method for preparing an emulsion gel-based fat substitute for controlled release of functional active components includes the steps of:
(1) 10 parts of ethyl cellulose and 2 parts of glycerol monostearate were weighed and dissolved in 88 parts of soybean oil at 150° C., stirred for 10 min and then placed in a water bath at 70° C. to obtain an oil solution;
(2) 10 parts of gelatin were dissolved in 89 parts of hot water at 70° C., 1 part of vitamin C was added and stirred for 10 min to obtain an aqueous solution; and
(3) the oil solution of step (1) and the aqueous solution of step (2) were mixed evenly according to the mass ratio of 4:6, 5:5, and 6:4, and the mixed solution was emulsified for 2 min at a rate of 10,000 rpm using a high-speed homogenizer to obtain an emulsion; and then the obtained emulsion was stirred at room temperature at a low speed of 400 rpm until gelling the system to obtain a water-in-oil emulsion gel-based fat substitute.
10 parts of gelatin were dissolved in 89 parts of hot water at 70° C., 1 part of vitamin C was added to the aqueous solution and stirred uniformly for 10 min and then cooled to room temperature to obtain a vitamin C-embedded hydrogel.
5 g of the vitamin C-embedded emulsion gel-based fat substitute in Example 7 and 5 g of the hydrogel in Comparative Example 7 were added to 100 mL of phosphate buffer, placed in a shaker and shaken at 400 rpm. A small amount of buffer was removed every few minutes. The absorption intensity was measured at 285 nm using a UV spectrophotometer to calculate the released amount of vitamin C.
A method for preparing an emulsion gel-based fat substitute for controlled release of functional active components includes the steps of:
(1) 10 parts of ethyl cellulose and 2 parts of glycerol monostearate were weighed and dissolved in 87 parts of soybean oil at 150° C., 1 part of vitamin E was added, stirred for 10 min and then placed in a water bath at 70° C. to obtain an oil solution;
(2) 10 parts of gelatin were dissolved in 90 parts of hot water at 70° C. and stirred for 10 min to obtain an aqueous solution; and
(3) the oil solution of step (1) and the aqueous solution of step (2) were mixed evenly according to the mass ratio of 1:9, 2:8, and 3:7, and the mixed solution was emulsified for 2 min at a rate of 10,000 rpm using a high-speed homogenizer to obtain an emulsion; and then the obtained emulsion was stirred at room temperature at a low speed of 400 rpm until gelling the system to obtain a vitamin E-embedded oil-in-water emulsion gel-based fat substitute.
10 parts of ethyl cellulose and 2 parts of glycerol monostearate were dissolved in 87 parts of soybean oil at 150° C., stirred for 10 min, and then placed in a water bath at 70° C. 1 part of vitamin E was added to the oil solution, stirred uniformly for 10 min, and then cooled to room temperature to obtain a vitamin E-embedded oleogel.
5 g of the vitamin E-embedded emulsion gel-based fat substitute in Example 8 and 5 g of the oleogel in Comparative Example 8 were added to 100 mL of phosphate buffer, placed in a shaker and shaken at 400 rpm. A small amount of the sample was removed every few minutes, which was added to 50 mL of is opropanol. The absorption intensity was measured at 297.9 nm using a UV spectrophotometer to calculate the released amount of vitamin E.
The release rates of vitamin C and vitamin E were shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2021106873995 | Jun 2021 | CN | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | PCT/CN2022/097373 | Jun 2022 | US |
Child | 17989846 | US |