Assessment of NaturalWaxes as Stabilizers in Peanut Butter

Manufacturers add sugar and fully hydrogenated vegetable oils to peanut butter to avoidits oil separation during storage. Unfortunately, hydrogenated oils are significant sources of saturatedfats, and reducing their consumption is challenging for food scientists without affecting the desiredcharacteristics of food products. Therefore, in a preliminary study, 1%, 1.5%, and 2% of three naturalwaxes (rice bran, carnauba, and beeswax) were added to the natural peanut butter to test their efficacyas 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 werefound between the different percentages of waxes. Thus, in the final experiments, 1% of these selectedwaxes (rice bran and carnauba waxes) were added directly to the roasted ground peanut. Due tothe difficulty of adding high melting point waxes to the peanut butter, a second experiment addedwax oleogel (rice-bran and carnauba wax) to defatted peanut flour. After four weeks of storage, allof the samples were examined for their texture (TPA) and oil separation. The sample with directlyadded bran wax had the highest values for spreadability and firmness, and the lowest oil separation,which was 11.94 0.90 Ns1, 19.60 0.71 Ns1, and 0.87 0.05%, respectively. In the peanut floursample, the spreadability, firmness, and separated oil of the rice bran wax oleogel added sample were46.95 0.99 Ns1, 66.61 0.93 N, and 1.57 0.07%, respectively. However, the textural propertiesof the rice bran wax oleogel added sample were close to the commercial peanut butter (naturaland creamy). Therefore, the results indicate that the rice bran wax oleogel could be the potentialreplacement of the fully hydrogenated oil as a stabilizer.