Food additive manufacturing with lipid-based inks: Evaluation of phytosterol-lecithin oleogels

Structured vegetable oils can replace animal-derived fats providing healthier products. 3D food printing is a toll for designing complex and tailored foods. Nonetheless, the printability of oleogels is yet an underexplored topic. Herein, we report on water-free sunflower oil oleogels comprising lecithin and phytosterols with room temperature printability. The printability was optimized based on four geometric features, time stability, total solids, phytosterol-lecithin ratio, speed, and number of layers. The microstructure, X-ray diffraction, texture, printing tests, and design of experiments revealed highly printable oleogels at both low (≥20%) and high solids (up to 80%), for specific ratios of phytosterol-lecithin. Those presented a needle-like microstructure with polymorphic forms β′ and β-crystals. Some texture properties (e.g., adhesiveness) were significantly affected by the speed, total solids and ratio.