Novel structuring compositions and food products including those compositions are provided. The compositions comprise a mono- and diglyceride mixture and have high levels of &bgr；&prime； crystals and small average crystallite sizes. They can be incorporated into intermediate food products such as shortenings and margarines, which can then be used to make a final food such as pastries (e.g., puff pastries, Danishes, donuts), doughs (e.g., for cookies, pie crusts), imitation cheese, icings, frozen potatoes (e.g., French Fries), and/or other foods requiring a fat to provide structure. Advantageously, the compositions provide structure to the final food by replacing unhealthy fats that would otherwise be used to provide structure in the same food item.
