Margarines

The name margarine originates with the discovery of margaric acid, by Michel Eugène Chevreul in 1813. It was believed that margaric acid was one of the three fatty acids which in combination formed animal fats. These days, the chains of fatty acids containing 17 carbon atoms present in animal fats are named margaric acid.

After the Second World War mixtures of vegetable fats which would substitute butter made from animal fat started to be used.

Margarine

Margarine is a water-in-oil type liquid or plastic emulsion produced from oils or animal and/or vegetable fats that which don’t come from milk. To these oils and/or fats a minimum of 1% and a maximum of 20% water, emulsifiers and other components such as carotene, aroma, vitamins, antioxidants, phytosterols and other functional foods are added.

Different varieties of margarine have been produced depending on what they are going to be used for: stick margarine, spreading margarine, table margarine, etc. The different types use: coconut oil, palmiste, palm oil and its fractions, soybean oils, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil and hydrogenated based on seed oils and/or tropical oils.

The manufacture process of margarine

Dietetic margarines are usually fat preparations with high humidity content. This can reach 40-50 % of water. The manufacture process of margarine:

Preparation of the watery phase and the fat phase.
Weighing and blending of both mixtures.
Emulsification (tank where the two mixtures are blended and the emulsifiers are added (mono-diglycerides, lecithins).
Chilling and crystallization (the margarine is passed through tubular coolers at high pressure to solidify it).
Kneading (Each type of fat requires a different length of time for resting and crystallization).
Packaging.

LIPSA can offer you a wide range of products for the elaboration of margarines from hydrogenated oils and fats to low trans fat and non-hydrogenated products.