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The main objective of this research was to enhance the understanding of the oil‐structuring properties of natural waxes. A number of natural food‐grade waxes were evaluated for their oil‐gelling properties using a combination of techniques, including rheology, differential scanning calorimetry, and polarized light microscopy. Based on the rheological measurements (oscillatory, flow, and thixotropic behavior), we found that rice bran wax, carnauba Brazilian wax and fruit wax showed weak gelling behavior in rice bran oil (prepared at concentrations as high as 5 % w/w), exhibiting relative low elastic moduli that displayed a high frequency dependency. On the contrary, carnauba wild wax, berry wax, candelilla wax, beeswax, and sunflower wax were efficient oleogelators forming strong gels at concentration of <2 % w/w. We attempt to explain these observed differences in gelling behavior by crystal morphology, network formation, and the final amount of crystalline phase.

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The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of combining a high-melting wax (sunflower wax or rice bran wax) with a low-melting wax (berrywax or BEW) on the crystallization and gelation behavior of the corresponding wax-based oleogels in rice bran oil (RBO). Sunflower wax (SW) and rice bran wax (RBW) have a similar chemical composition but a very different crystallization behavior. Therefore, SWand RBW were also combined in a wax-based oleogel to examine the occurrence of co-crystallization and/or crystal coexistence. The thermal and gelation behavior of the binary blends in rice bran oil (5% w/w total concentration of wax) were investigated with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rheological measurements, showing sequential crystallization and gelation for the SW/RBW : BEW wax-based oleogels and simultaneous crystallization and gelation for the SW : RBW wax-based oleogels. Oscillatory shear and hardness measurements revealed the reinforcement of the high-melting wax crystal network with the addition of the low-melting berry wax. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements in both the long-spacing and the short-spacing region showed the occurrence of crystal co-existence, rather than co-crystallization, which was confirmed with polarized light microscopy (PLM). Two different crystal morphologies could be discerned for all three combinations (RBW : SW, SW : BEW and RBW : BEW). We hypothesized that the improved rheological properties could be attributed to sintering, a process in which the low-melting BEW crystals form solid bonds between the crystals of the high-melting waxes. As such, a cohesive network is formed, resulting in an increased hardness of the bi-wax-based oleogels. This research provides the opportunity to minimize the amount of wax necessary in creating semi-solid materials with a wide variety in rheological and textural properties