The rheology of fats: A review

Remarkably little work has been published on the rheology of fats. Most of what is on record concerns the spreading properties of butter and margarine and the firmness of lard. Correlations with chemical constitution are especially difficult because most fats change their rheological properties with working or ageing, without the occurrence of corresponding chemical changes. The flow properties are also changed by the processes of testing. Moreover, surprisingly little quantitative information is yet available on relationships between the rheological properties and chemical constitution of fats, on the one hand, and the shortness or texture of baked products containing them, on the other. In view of the experience of other industries, however, there is no reason to doubt that rheological analysis will some day play an important part in the classification of oils and fats. It is suggested that tables of correlations between empirical tests may sometimes be usefully clarified and simplified by a process of multiple factor analysis.