The ratio between liquid and solid portion of lipid can be determined quickly
and accurately by low-field pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance (LFP-NMR) instrument.
This analytical tool has become one of important techniques to characterize product
physical properties especially related to fat melting behavior, mouth feeling, and
cooling effect etc. in lipid and food application system. In lipid, it can be used to
determine the solid fat content, evaluate the crystallization rate and the compatibility of
lipid blends, monitor the enzymatic interesterification degree, and estimate the fat
crystal type. As a nondestructive testing, LFP-NMR technique was also applied to
analyze the particle size distribution of emulsion, the fat crystallization, and the quality
control during food storage. LFP-NMR is not only applied to evaluate the fat
crystallization, but also to analyze the crystallinity of sugar. These application
progresses of LFP-NMR technique in lipid and food will be summarized in this chapter.
Keywords: Compatibility, crystallinity, crystallization rate, emulsion, foods,
interesterification, lipids, low-filed pulsed NMR, particle size distribution,
polymorphism, SFC.