Oil gel

#The present application is a National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2011/050722, filed on Jan. 20, 2011, which claims priority to European Patent Application No. 10151198.8, filed on Jan. 20, 2010, the entire contents of which are being incorporated herein by reference.

#The present invention relates to the field of oil thickeners and in particular oil gels. Embodiments of the present invention relate for example to a an oil composition containing at least one complex comprising an oil dispersible emulsifier and protein fibres and preparations comprising such oil compositions; the use of such complexes as oil thickeners, and a method to produce the complexes.

#Margarine and spreads are well known in the art and have enjoyed considerable commercial success. Basically, they are water-in-oil emulsions. The oil phase is a blend of liquid oil and fat that is solid at normal ambient temperature (20° C.). The solid fat, often designated as hardstock, acts as a structuring agent, and stabilises the dispersion.

#FIG. 1 shows viscosity profiles. FIG. 1a shows the viscosity profile of sample containing 4 weight-% BLG long fibers, 30% phosphatidylcholine and 66% sunflower oil, during cooling from 70 to 5° C. at 5° C./min at 100 s−1, heating to 70° C. at 5° C./min at 10 s−1 and second cooling from 70 to 5° C. at 5° C./min at 100 s−1. FIG. 1b shows the viscosity profile of a sample containing 2 weight-% BLG long fibers, 30% phosphatidylcholine and 68% sunflower oil, during cooling from 80 to 5° C. at 5° C./min at 100 s−1, heating to 80° C. at 5° C./min at 10 s−1 and second cooling from 80 to 5° C. at 5° C./min at 100 s−1.

#FIG. 2 shows Storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli as a function of temperature for several oil gel samples. FIG. 2a shows storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli as a function of temperature for an oil gel sample which contains a high amount of BLG fibres (8 weight-%) and 30 weight-% PC. FIG. 2b shows storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli as a function of temperature for an oil gel sample which contains an intermediate amount of BLG fibres (4 weight-%) and 30 weight-% PC. FIG. 2c shows storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli as a function of temperature for an oil gel sample which contains an intermediate amount of BLG fibres (4 weight-%) and 20 weight-% PC (a low amount of PC).

#FIG. 3 shows structures of complexes formed by phosphatidylcholine and β-lactoglobulin fibres: complexed lamellar Lαc (a), complexed inverted hexagonal HIIc (b), and complexed micellar hexagonal HIc (c).

#Oil-gels (organogels) are prepared by melting a mixture of BLG fibres and PC in edible oil at 70° C. Upon cooling at room temperature, a solid-like material is formed for a structurant composition ratio PC:BLG fibres of 4:1 which corresponds to 4% BLG fibres, 30% PC and 66% oil.

#An oil thickening was already observed for a long fibres PC:BLG ratio of about 15, i.e. 2% BLG long fibres, 31.4% PC and 66.% oil.

#Rheology