Strengthening oil quality and stability features by blending canola, sunflower and sesame oil

The present study reports about developing edible oil blends with improved quality and stability which together set up its market value and consumer acceptability. Antioxidant rich sesame (SES) and sunflower (SUN) oil help in fighting against free radicals and may reduce risk of developing chronic diseases. However, due to richness in polyunsaturated fatty acids these two oils are not found suitable for frying purposes compared to oleic acid rich canola (CNL) oil. We hypothesize that mixing these three oils together could help in release of oil blends with high amount of bioactive lipids, natural antioxidants and suitability for frying. Here twenty-six edible oil blends of CNL, SUN and SES oils were formulated and evaluated for their antioxidative profile and oil quality characteristics. On the basis of antioxidative results, out of three blending patterns, blends of CNL:SES and CNL:SUN:SES were found to be superior than the CNL:SUN oil blends. Smoke point of SUN (245.50°C) and SES (226.67°C) oil increased on blending with CNL (254.91°C) oil and was found to be in the range of 241.30 (35CNL:65SES) -250.27°C (80CNL:20SES) and 241.33 (30CNL:30SUN:40SES) -248.27°C (60CNL:20SUN:20SES) in oil blends which makes them suitable for cooking at higher temperatures. A percent increase of 6.06% to 9.4% was recorded in CNL:SES oil blends compared to SES oil alone. Blending SES and SUN oil with CNL oil also helped in reducing the acid value, iodine value, peroxide value, p-anisidine value and totox value which makes these oil blends less prone to oxidation. Based on the antioxidative and smoke point results, we recommend two oil blends viz., B25 (35CNL:65SES) and B3 (40CNL:30SUN:30SES) with improved quality and oxidative stability which need promotion in market.