We investigated organogel formation in dispersions of CW in safflower oil (SFO). Candelilla wax (CW) has as its main component hentriacontane (78.9%), a n-alkane with self assembly properties in organic solvents (i.e., vegetable oils). Results showed that, independent of the cooling rate (i.e., 1°C/min and 10°C/min) and gel setting temperature (T set ), the CW organogels observed a thermoreversible behavior. This was evaluated by the behavior of thermal parameters that characterized organogel formation (gelation temperature, T g ; heat of gelation, DH g ) and melting (melting temperature, T p ; heat of melting, DH M ) after two heating-cooling cycles. For a given CW concentration (i.e., 0.5, 1.0, and 3%), the magnitude of DH M and T p and the structural organization of the organogel, depended on the cooling rate, the thermodynamic drive force for gelation, and the annealing process occurring at high T set (i.e., 25°C). At T set of 25°C the microplatelet units that formed the organogel aggregated as a function of storage time, a process that resulted in an increase in organogel hardness. In contrast, at T set of 5°C annealing occurred in a limited extent, but gels had higher solid fat content and microplatelet units of a smaller size than the gels obtained at 25°C. The result was a threedimensional network with greater hardness than the one obtained at 25°C. The 3% CW organogels showed no phase separation up to 3 months at room temperature, with textures of potential use by the food industry.
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