Lipids: Fats and Oils – Unit 4

Lipids are fat soluble compounds e.g. fat, oils, phospholipids, and Vitamin D.

The difference between fats and oils is the physical state. A fat is solid at room temperature

whereas oil is liquid.

Chemical Composition

Fat is composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen. Fats can be classified as being saponifiable (able

to make soap) or non saponifiable. Saponifiable lipids can be further divided into simple and

compound liquids. Compound lipids are those that contain the compounds such as phosphorus,

nitrogen or sulphur. An example of a compound lipid is phospholipids. Simple lipids are fats,

oils and waxes. Nonsaponifiable lipids are cholesterol and vitamin D.

Fats may also be classified according to its degree of saturation of hydrogen atoms. If the

molecules cannot contain any more hydrogen atom the molecules in saturated. If it has less than

the theoretical number of hydrogen atom it is unsaturated. If the molecule has one double bond

it in monounsaturated if it has two or more double bonds it is polyunsaturated. The fat we

consume in foods is about 90% triglyceride. These are compounds formed from three fatty acids

and one molecule of glycerol. Glycerol is a water soluble alcohol with three carbon and three

hydroxyl – OH groups. Fatty acids are chains of carbons with an organic acid at the end.

Use of fat in cookery: satiety and flavor, heat transfer, for shortening, emulsion, glaze,

adhesiveness, reheating, color, clean-up, aroma

Chemical Reaction

Saponification is the production of soap from the reaction of a fat or oil with a aqueous solution

of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Sodium hydroxide forms solid soap while

potassium hydroxide forms liquid soap. The emulsifying property of soap is due to the fact that

it has a hydrophobic and hydrophilic end.

1
Hydrolysis

This is the splitting of a bond by the addition of water. This splitting breaks down triglycerides

into its constituence: Glycerol and fatty acid. Hydrolysis is also catalyzed by lipase which is an

enzyme naturally found in food such as butter and nuts. This hydrolysis results in the

accumulation of free fatty acids which contributes to development of hydrolytic rancidity. Also

catalyzed by heat.

Formation of Aerolein

Once hydrolysis has broken down the triglycerides to glycerol and free fatty acid continue

heating will further break down the free glycerol to aerolein. This compound is volatile it

irritates the eye, darkens the fat cause foaming and strong flavor.

Hydrogenation

This is the process by which hydrogen atoms are added to the double bonds present in saturated

fatty acids. Hydrogenation is used to make margarine and shortening from veg. and animal fats

and oils.

Oxidative Rancidity

This occurs when the oxygen in the air reacts with the double bonds to form free radicals and

shorter fatty acids. These have a rancid odor.

Antioxidants

These are substances added to fats and oils and food containing them to prevent oxidation in one

of two ways. They may hydrolyze themselves and donate their hydrogen to the fat or they may

bind the catalytic factors.

Smoke point: The temperature at which a fat begins to smoke. A suitable fat for frying is one

that has a fairly high smoke point. This is very important to deep fat frying because the

2
temperature reached is higher than in pan frying. The highest temperature required to cook any

food is close to 390ºF therefore any fat used for frying should have a smoke point above that.

Production of Fat

Rendering is the process through which lard is extracted from pigs and tallow from sheep and

cattle. There are three types of rendering: steam, dry and low temperature

Steam rendering: In this method fat is heated in a vacuum to prevent contact with oxygen.

Low temperature: In this method meat scraps are heated just enough to melt the fat. This

process produces a fat that is lighter in color and does not contain much meat flavor.

In the production of oil from plant source, the seeds are crushed or cracked and oil is removed by

mechanical presses or expellers after they have been heated to melt fat and partially breakdown

cell walls. Color is extracted by percolating a solvent through the cracked seeds. Contaminants

such as protein, veg, gum and phospholipids are coagulated and filtered.

Refining: This is the process impurities are removed from oil. Refining that results in oil that is

99.5% pure, consist of five steps

 Degumming

 Neutralizing

 Washing/ drying

 Bleaching

 Deodorizing

Winterizing: In this process the oil is chilled to 40-50ºF (5-7ºC) and the solids for are removed

by filtration: corn, oil, soybean, cotton seed are winterized olive oil is hot.

De waxing: removing cloudy constituents

3
Emulsions: An emulsion is a dispension of one liquid in another when liquids are immiscible or

ordinarily do not mix. An emulsifying agent has one part of its molecule soluble in water (polar)

and the other part soluble in oil (non-polar). There are three types of emulsion which differ in

their viscosity and stability.

 Temporary emulsions are the least viscose and stable. They separate when left to stand

this process is called creaming. These emulsions must be shaken each time they are used.

 Semi permanent emulsions are those to which a stabilizer has been added to decrease the

tendency to cream eg. Commercial French and Italian dressing.

 Permanent are very stable and viscose and stable to the point that they do not separate.