Protein-complexed MCT oil, method of manufacture, and food products made therefrom

A method of manufacturing protein-complexed medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil, comprising:

• forming a wall material slurry comprised of water, protein, at least one of an emulsifier or co-emulsifier, and optionally polysaccharide, wherein:
• the protein is selected from the group consisting of pea protein, hemp protein, pumpkin seed protein, rice protein, soy protein, sunflower seed protein, sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis) protein, chia protein, quinoa protein, whey protein, casein, egg protein, beef protein, chicken protein, fish protein, collagen, and combinations thereof,
• the emulsifier, when included, is selected from the group consisting of gum Arabic, acacia fiber, xanthan gum, guar gum, gellan gum, carrageenan, locust bean gum, pectin, starch, soy lecithin, egg lecithin, agar-agar, dextrin, monoglyceride, diglyceride, and combinations thereof, and
• the co-emulsifier, when included, is selected from the group consisting of calcium stearoyl lactylate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, cetearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, calcium stearate, magnesium stearate, phosphates, polyglycerol esters, polysorbate, sorbitan monostearate, sucrose fatty acid ester, and combinations thereof;
• combining liquid MCT oil with the wall material slurry to form a heterogeneous mixture;
• subjecting the heterogeneous mixture to shearing to form an emulsion comprised of MCT droplets at least partially encapsulated by wall material;
• subjecting the emulsion to nanolization at a pressure of in a range of 40 MPa to 100 MPa to form micro-sized and/or nano-sized composite droplets;
• and
• spray-drying the micro-sized and/or nano-sized composite droplets with heated air to remove water by evaporation and form dried protein-complexed MCT oil particles having a particle size of 10 μm or less, wherein the dried protein-complexed MCT oil particles are comprised of MCT droplets encapsulated by a dried wall structure comprised of the protein, at least one of the emulsifier or co-emulsifier, and optionally polysaccharide.

A method of manufacturing protein-complexed medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil, comprising:

• forming a wall material slurry comprised of water, pea protein, at least one of an emulsifier or co-emulsifier, and optionally polysaccharide;
• combining liquid MCT oil with the wall material slurry to form a heterogeneous mixture, wherein the heterogeneous mixture comprises 25% to 50% by weight of the pea protein and 40% to 70% by weight of the liquid MCT oil, excluding the water;
• subjecting the heterogeneous mixture to shearing to form an emulsion comprised of MCT droplets at least partially encapsulated by wall material;
• subjecting the emulsion to nanolization at a pressure in a range of 40 MPa to 100 MPa to form micro-sized and/or nano-sized composite droplets;
• and
• spray-drying the micro-sized and/or nano-sized composite droplets with heated air to remove water by evaporation and form dried protein-complexed MCT oil particles having a particle size of 50 μm or less, wherein the dried protein-complexed MCT oil particles are comprised of MCT droplets encapsulated by a dried wall structure comprised of the protein, at least one of the emulsifier or co-emulsifier, and optionally polysaccharide.