ABSTRACT
The present study sought to develop a novel healthy margarine fat with low levels of trans and saturated fatty acids in order to promote healthier alternatives. In this work, tiger nut oil was first used as a raw material to prepare margarine fat. The effects of mass ratio, reaction temperature, catalyst dosage, and time on the interesterification reaction were investigated and optimized. The results showed that, the margarine fat with ≤40% saturated fatty acids was achieved using a 6:4 mass ratio of tiger nut oil to palm stearin. The ideal interesterification parameters were 80 °C, 0.36% (w/w) catalyst dosage, and 32 min. Compared with physical blends, the interesterified oil had lower solid fat content (3.71% at 35 °C), lower slip melting point (33.5 °C), and lower levels of tri-saturated triacylglycerols (1.27%). This investigation provides important information for the utilization of tiger nut oil in healthy margarine formulation.