Determine the types of Emulsions?
A food emulsion is basically a two phase system consisting of a liquid, such as oil, wax or essential oil and water. An emulsion has 3 parts - dispersed phase, continuous phase and or emulsifier which is a surface active agent that decreases interfacial tension and forms physical barriers around each droplet to impede or present their coalescence.
Emulsions are basically of two types:
- Oil in water (o/w), and
- Water in oil (w/o)
The oil in water emulsion consist of lipid droplets dispersed in water e.g. milk, cream, ice cream, mayonnaise, salad dressing (Figure 7.7). The water in oil emulsion is made up of water droplets dispersed in oil e.g. butter, margarine.