Introduction Margarine and table spreads are fat products composed of multiphase colloidal systems containing dispersed water droplets in a continuous fat phase. These water-in-oil W/ O emulsions mainly consist of semisolid fats, water, and emulsifiers. High-melting fats, such as palm oil and fully hydrogenated rapeseed oil, are used as semisolid fat ingredients in these mixtures to form three-dimensional crystal network structures. The physical properties of these fat products, relating to spreadability and hardness, are due to the above-mentioned crystals 1 3. Fat products are usually manufactured using rapid cooling and shearing processes, which, in turn, can influence the crystal behavior and subsequent mechanical properties of the products 4 7. More