Comparative analysis of lipid composition and thermal, polymorphic, and crystallization behaviors of granular crystals formed in beef tallow and palm oil.

Six rectangular block all beef tallow (BT)-based and all palm oil (PO)-based model shortenings prepared on a laboratory scale, respectively denoted BTMS and POMS, were stored under temperature fluctuation cycles of 5-20 °C until granular crystals were observed. The lipid composition and thermal, polymorphic, and isothermal crystallization behaviors of the granular crystals and their surrounding materials separated from BTMS and POMS, respectively, were evaluated. The changes of nanostructure including the aggregation of high-melting triacylglycerols (TAGs) and polymorphic transformation from β' form of double chain length structures to complicated crystal structures, in which the β and β' form crystals of triple and double chain length structures simultaneously coexist, had occurred in granular crystals compared with surrounding materials, whether in BTMS or in POMS. Consequently, a slower crystallization rate appeared in granular crystal parts of both model shortenings noted above, which would yield larger and fewer crystals indicated by the Avrami model analysis that would further aggregate to form large granular crystals.