Fats and oils are esters of non- polar compounds are not soluble in water , which is produced by plants

and animals . In food processing , fats and oils have some important function , namely as a source of energy , contribute to the formation of texture and sensory quality of food products , heat transfer medium in the frying process , as well as a solvent for essential fat-soluble vitamins ( A , D , E and K ) .

Fats and oils are lipid- simple groups of glycerol esters prepared by fatty acid and glycerine . In the structure of fats and oils , glycerin molecule binds three fatty acid chains to form ester compounds which are non-polar . The length of the molecular structure of fats and oils depending on the type of fatty acids attached to the glycerol . Below we can see the chemical structure of fats / oils .

And , finally we are back to the original question , " What is the difference between fats and oils itself? "

As a student of food technology , I often get questions about it . As we know , the difference lies in its form at room temperature , solid fats and liquid oils otherwise at room temperature . However , what causes the difference in the physical ? ? The difference is caused by the physical composition of the constituent fatty acids . Fats contain more saturated fatty acids , while the oil contains unsaturated fatty acids that much more . Since the melting point is higher in saturated fat than the fat unsaturated fats tend to be solid , while oil is liquid at room temperature .

The melting point ( melting point) is the physical properties of the essential fatty acids . The melting point indicates the temperature at which the fat / oil change phase from solid phase into the liquid phase . The melting point of fatty acids will determine the melting and crystallization properties of fat formulation . The melting point of fatty acids is influenced by the carbon chain length , number of double bonds and cis and trans configurations .

Number of Carbon Atoms The melting point of fatty acids will further increase with increasing number of carbon atoms are bonded . In the same number of carbon atoms , the melting point of fatty acids with unsaturated bonds is higher than the unsaturated fatty acids .

The number of double bonds The more the number of unsaturated bonds ( double bonds ) then the lower the melting point . For example , the melting point of the fatty acids C 18:0 , C 18:1 , C 18:2 , C 18:3 dam row is as follows 70 C , 16 C , -5 C and -11 C .

Cis and trans configurations Unsaturated fatty acid isomers with ciss configuration has a lower melting point than the trans configuration , for example, oleic acid ( cis - 9 - octadecanoic ) has a melting point of 14 C , whereas elaidic acid ( trans - 9 - octadecanoic ) at 43.7 C.

Finally, the physical properties of fats and oils from different sources generally differ because of differences in the proportions of their constituent fatty acids and chemical structure of each triglyceride