Driven both by real industrial needs and curiosity for fundamental research, edible oil structuring has emerged as a subject of growing interest with applications in real food systems. With contributions from leading research groups around the world, this book provides a comprehensive and concise overview of the field with special emphasis on the updates from the last 5 years. New insights into the mechanism of gelation in mono- and multicomponent gels are discussed for several categories of previously known structuring agents along with the potential food applications of some of these systems. In addition, use of alternative methods to explore structuring properties of hydrophilic biopolymers are presented with illustrative examples. Some new concepts such as bio-based synthesis of supergelators, foamed oleogels and use of innovative dispersion techniques give a broader picture of the current research in edible oil structuring.
This book will be of interest to students, academics and scientists involved in the research of edible oil structuring. It will be an important reference as it provides current information on the state-of-the-art of the field.
Prof. Ashok Patel is an Associate Professor in Biotechnology and Food Engineering at Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Shantou, China where he is currently setting-up a state-of-the-art Food Innovation Lab. He prides himself in being an internationally mobile researcher who has been active in the field of food colloids within different sectors including industry (Unilever R and D Vlaardingen, Netherlands), University (Ghent University, Belgium) and research organization (International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Portugal). His past and current research is focused on using food-grade ingredients to create novel structured systems including oleogels, foams, colloidal particles and complex emulsions to solve formulation issues in food product development. He has published more than 50 ‘first-authored’ publications in the area of applied colloid science including original research papers, reviews, book chapters and patents. For his research in applied colloid science, he has received prestigious and highly competitive individual funding from the European Commission and other Young Scientist Awards and nominations. In 2015, he was selected for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate at the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting as a visiting scientist.
