Creation of lipid whisker crystals for stable oleogel preparation

The development of a novel manufacturing technology of oleogels is important for overcoming the serious problem of inadequate "juiciness" of plant-based meats. We have recently demonstrated that gelation occurs with the addition of only 0.5 wt% fully hydrogenated hard palm mid-fraction (FHHPMF), which forms elongated fibrous crystals in oleogels. In this paper, we reveal from the observation of a spot-like diffraction pattern using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) that elongated fibrous crystals are single crystals, i.e., lipid whisker crystals. In addition, we show through analysis of electron diffraction patterns that lipid whisker crystals are grown by elongation in the (011) crystallographic face. We also observed that such oleogels composed of lipid whisker crystals exhibit high mechanical strength and stability. These results suggest that the oleogels composed of lipid whisker crystals have strong potential to advance the technology of plant-based meats.