I recently have been seeing posts about Starbucks bringing out a strange coffee with olive oil as an ingredient. I was always under the assumption that olive oil would separate from water and not mix. There must be something I’m not seeing here, and googling will not give me the answers. Do they do something to the olive oil perhaps? Thanks.
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You add an emulsifier that makes the water and oil able to bond and thus mix.
I think they use Lecithin in the starbucks products. It basically works by lecithin being able to bond with water on one side, and oil on the other, on a molecular level.
There are substances called emulsifiers that help water and fats mix. Typically, they consist of compounds that have a dipole (a positively charged part and a negatively charged part), which is attracted to water molecules, attached to a long carbon chain, which is attracted to fat molecules. Many cleaning products, like soaps and detergents, are full of these, which is why they’re so good at cleaning fatty and oily residues off skin and cooking utensils. But foods often have smaller amounts too.
You add an emulsifier that makes the water and oil able to bond and thus mix.
I think they use Lecithin in the starbucks products. It basically works by lecithin being able to bond with water on one side, and oil on the other, on a molecular level.
There are substances called emulsifiers that help water and fats mix. Typically, they consist of compounds that have a dipole (a positively charged part and a negatively charged part), which is attracted to water molecules, attached to a long carbon chain, which is attracted to fat molecules. Many cleaning products, like soaps and detergents, are full of these, which is why they’re so good at cleaning fatty and oily residues off skin and cooking utensils. But foods often have smaller amounts too.
Theoretically you can mix oil and water with the help of emulsifiers as other commenters mentioned.
However in the Starbucks drinks the oil just separated. Look up videos of it and you will see a layer of oil floating on top.
Theoretically you can mix oil and water with the help of emulsifiers as other commenters mentioned.
However in the Starbucks drinks the oil just separated. Look up videos of it and you will see a layer of oil floating on top.
Typically an *emulsifier* is used such as Soy Lecithin. This allows the oil to form into very fine droplets that can be suspended in water. This is because the droplets are small enough such that the force of random molecular motions bumping against the droplets becomes more significant than their buoyancy. This allows them to avoid floating to the top, at least in the short term. They will eventually seperate.
Typically an *emulsifier* is used such as Soy Lecithin. This allows the oil to form into very fine droplets that can be suspended in water. This is because the droplets are small enough such that the force of random molecular motions bumping against the droplets becomes more significant than their buoyancy. This allows them to avoid floating to the top, at least in the short term. They will eventually seperate.
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