Creamy Emu Oil vs Clear Emu Oil

This insert is from Dr. Hernadez of Texas A & M.  After several years of studying this issue, our processor has chosen to produce a cream oil made of both phases.  Until the industry has found the X-Factor (the element that makes the oil work) we feel the oil should be kept whole.  By separating the solids and the clear there is a possibility of loss of some healing and penetrating properties.

 4) Winterization.  After several days in storage, emu oil will develop two layers: a bottom layer of high-melting stearins and upper layer of lower-melting, more unsaturated oleins.  This phenomenon occurs also in some vegetable oils.  The properties of these two layers in emu oil have not been studied in depth, but in the case of oils such as cottonseed, corn or sunflower, the development of a stearin fraction is considered unsightly.  If the oils are intended to be sold as a crystal clear product, they are chilled (to usually 40 degrees F), and the stearin fraction is removed by filtration .  The resulting oil is now devoid of turbidity and is called a clarified salad oil.  In the case of emu oil, this operation can also be performed if the objective is to produce a clear product.

 The oil resulting from the chilling process will have a slightly different fatty acid profile.

As mentioned above, emu oil tends to separate into two distinct phases, a liquid olein fraction and a semi-solid phase or stearin fraction.  The formation of stearin is due to presence of saturates (mostly palmitic acid) in the oil, which, as they agglomerate into crystals, produce this solid phase.  The crystallized emu oil has a ‘pearly’ white appearance and the liquid olein is transparent.  

Table 4 shows the fatty acid breakdown of these two phases.  As expected, the stearin fraction was richer in the more saturated fatty acids, namely palmitic and stearic acids and the olein fraction was higher in oleic and linoleic acids than in the original oil.

Table 5 shows a profile of how the fatty acids are actully distributed in the triglycerides.  The unsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid and linoleic acid tend to agglomerate in the same triglyceride as illustrated by the presence of tri- and di-oleates.  A triglyceride profile of cottonseed oil is shown for comparison.  This concentration of unsaturated fatty acids in the triglycerides also explains why the oils from ratites readily separate into a liquid and more solid phases.