Chia seed oil-candelilla wax oleogels structural features and viscoelasticity are enhanced by annealing

Abstract Chia seed oil-candelilla wax (3 g/100 g) oleogel was prepared and subjected to annealing at three different temperatures (30, 35 and 40 °C). Light microscopy images showed the presence of needle-like crystals structures dispersed in the oil phase. Annealing disrupted the crystalline structures by reducing their number. Wide-angle X-ray dispersion analysis showed that the annealed oleogels did not inherit the pristine candelilla wax crystallinity. Small-angle X-ray dispersion analysis showed that the needle-like structures were transformed into platelets after annealing. The storage G′ and loss G″ moduli values were boosted after annealing, indicating that the annealing process induced a strong reorganization of the oleogel structure. FTIR analysis indicated that unsaturated ester groups from candelilla wax and chia seed oil can act as surfactants that, in combination with platelet structures from n-alkanes, reconfigure the structure of oleogels during the annealing process. Overall, the results showed that annealing is a suitable process for oleogel strengthening when wax contents are relatively low.