Texture and flavor evaluation of peanut butter stabilized with natural waxes

Exploring Diacylglycerol Oil-Based Oleogels as Effective Stabilizers in Peanut Butter: Performance, Structural Insights, and Sensory Evaluation

In the pursuit of reducing oil separation in peanut butter, oleogels synthesized from diacylglycerol (DAG)-rich peanut oils, using glycerol monostearate (GMS) as the gelator, were examined as alternative stabilizers. In comparison to triacylglycerol (TAG)-rich peanut oils, the DAG oil-based oleogels exhibited better oil-binding capacities across increasing GMS concentrations. Intriguingly, thermal and rheological assessments pointed to a weaker network structure in DAG oil oleogels, as evidenced by their lower crystallization temperatures and reduced viscoelastic parameters (G' and G''). Insight from infrared spectroscopy revealed that this could stem from heightened intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the DAG oil and the gelator. When applied to peanut butter, DAG oil oleogels demonstrated efficacy in minimizing oil separation. Extended storage trials affirmed the long-term stability of peanut butter formulations incorporating these oleogels. Furthermore, sensory evaluations by panelists underscored favorable impressions, suggesting potential consumer acceptance. Overall, this study illuminates the promising role of DAG oleogels as effective, alternative stabilizers in peanut butter formulations.

A review of oleogels applications in dairy foods

The characteristics of dairy products, such as texture, color, flavor, and nutritional profile, are significantly influenced by the presence of milk fat. However, saturated fatty acids account for 65% of total milk fat. With increased health awareness and regulatory recommendations, consumer preferences have evolved toward low/no saturated fat food products. Reducing the saturated fat content of dairy products to meet market demands is an urgent yet challenging task, as it may compromise product quality and increase production costs. In this regard, oleogels have emerged as a viable milk fat replacement in dairy foods. This review focuses on recent advances in oleogel systems and explores their potential for incorporation into dairy products as a milk fat substitute. Overall, it can be concluded that oleogel can be a potential alternative to replace milk fat fully or partially in the product matrix to improve nutritional profile by mimicking similar rheological and textural product characteristics as milk fat. Furthermore, the impact of consuming oleogel-based dairy foods on digestibility and gut health is also discussed. A thorough comprehension of the application of oleogels in dairy products will provide an opportunity for the dairy sector to develop applications that will appeal to the changing consumer needs.

Oleogels as a Fat Substitute in Food: A Current Review

Fats and oils in food give them flavor and texture while promoting satiety. Despite the recommendation to consume predominantly unsaturated lipid sources, its liquid behavior at room temperature makes many industrial applications impossible. Oleogel is a relatively new technology applied as a total or partial replacement for conventional fats directly related to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and inflammatory processes. Some of the complications in developing oleogels for the food industry are finding structuring agents Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), viable economically, and that do not compromise the oleogel palatability; thus, many studies have shown the different possibilities of applications of oleogel in food products. This review presents applied oleogels in foods and recent proposals to circumvent some disadvantages, as reaching consumer demand for healthier products using an easy-to-use and low-cost material can be intriguing for the food industry.

Assessment of Natural Waxes as Stabilizers in Peanut Butter

Manufacturers add sugar and fully hydrogenated vegetable oils to peanut butter to avoid its oil separation during storage. Unfortunately, hydrogenated oils are significant sources of saturated fats, and reducing their consumption is challenging for food scientists without affecting the desired characteristics of food products. Therefore, in a preliminary study, 1%, 1.5%, and 2% of three natural waxes (rice bran, carnauba, and beeswax) were added to the natural peanut butter to test their efficacy as a stabilizer. Rice bran and carnauba wax added to peanut butter presented a higher elastic modulus (G’) and lower oil separation percentages than beeswax. However, no significant differences were found between the different percentages of waxes. Thus, in the final experiments, 1% of these selected waxes (rice bran and carnauba waxes) were added directly to the roasted ground peanut. Due to the difficulty of adding high melting point waxes to the peanut butter, a second experiment added wax oleogel (rice-bran and carnauba wax) to defatted peanut flour. After four weeks of storage, all of the samples were examined for their texture (TPA) and oil separation. The sample with directly added bran wax had the highest values for spreadability and firmness, and the lowest oil separation, which was 11.94 ± 0.90 N·s⁻¹, 19.60 ± 0.71 N·s⁻¹, and 0.87 ± 0.05%, respectively. In the peanut flour sample, the spreadability, firmness, and separated oil of the rice bran wax oleogel added sample were 46.95 ± 0.99 N·s⁻¹, 66.61 ± 0.93 N, and 1.57 ± 0.07%, respectively. However, the textural properties of the rice bran wax oleogel added sample were close to the commercial peanut butter (natural and creamy). Therefore, the results indicate that the rice bran wax oleogel could be the potential replacement of the fully hydrogenated oil as a stabilizer.