Physicochemical and rheological properties of soybean organogels: Interactions between different structuring agents

High consumption of trans and saturated fats has been related to the development of cardiovascular diseases, justifying the application of organogels as possible substitutes for industrial fats. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical and rheological characteristics of soybean organogels that were prepared with 6% (w:w) of structuring components by a simplex centroid design, individually added, in binary and ternary associations with candelilla wax (CW), sorbitan monostearate (SMS) and fully hydrogenated palm oil (HPO). The formulated organogels were evaluated for hardness, solid content, and rheological behavior. The organogels containing a high proportion of HPO had higher solid content: 8.1% with the addition of isolated HPO and a solid content of 6.9% with the addition of HPO + CW. However, isolated use of HPO resulted in lower compression/extrusion strength (0.85 N) than that obtained with isolated CW (10.45 N). All organogels exhibited Hershel-Bulkley rheological behavior, except organogel 2 (containing only SMS), which showed pseudoplastic behavior. Thus, the structuring agents used to form the organogels are capable of changing the physical behavior of unsaturated lipids depending on whether a combination of CW + HPO was added, a ternary interaction with a higher proportion of CW, and the use of isolated CW as a structuring agent, resulting in organogels of greater stability and hardness.