Structured lipids obtained by chemical interesterification of olive oil and palm stearin

Interesterification of palm stearin (PS) with liquid vegetable oils could yield a good solid fat stock that may impart desirable physical properties, because PS is a useful source of vegetable hard fat, providing β′ stable solid fats. Dietary ingestion of olive oil (OO) has been reported to have physiological benefits such as lowering serum cholesterol levels. Fat blends, formulated by binary blends of palm stearin and olive oil in different ratios, were subjected to chemical interesterification with sodium methoxide. The original and interesterified blends were examined for fatty acid and triacylglycerol composition, melting point, solid fat content (SFC) and consistency. Interesterification caused rearrangement of triacylglycerol species, reduction of trisaturated and triunsaturated triacylglycerols content and increase in diunsaturated-monosaturated triacylglycerols of all blends, resulting in lowering of melting point and solid fat content. The incorporation of OO to PS reduced consistency, producing more plastic blends. The mixture and chemical interesterification allowed obtaining fats with various degrees of plasticity, increasing the possibilities for the commercial use of palm stearin and olive oil. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.