What are the different properties of commonly used edible colloids?

Xanthan Gum

Xanthan gum, also known as xanthan gum, Hansen’s gum, xanthomonas polysaccharide, is a kind of single spore polysaccharide produced by the fermentation of Pseudoxanthomonas spp. from the black rot of kale wild rape Xanthomonas spp. with carbohydrates as the main raw material, by aerobic fermentation bioengineering technology, cut off the 1,6-glycosidic bond, open the branched chain, and then synthesize the straight chain according to the 1,4-button composition of a kind of acidic extracellular heteropolysaccharides. Due to its special macromolecular structure and colloidal properties, it has many functions, and can be used as emulsifier, stabilizer, gel thickener, wetting agent, film forming agent, etc. It is widely used in various fields of national economy.

Xanthan gum can quickly dissolve into cold water, but has a strong hydrophilicity, so if the mixing is not sufficient, the outer layer of water absorption and expansion into a gel, will prevent the water into the inner layer, so the xanthan gum dry powder or with salt, sugar and other dry powder auxiliaries mixing slowly added to the mixing of the water feeding, made of solution to use.

Xanthan gum aqueous solution in the static or low shear effect has a high viscosity, in high shear effect is manifested as a sharp drop in viscosity, but the molecular structure remains unchanged, and when the shear force is eliminated, it is immediately restored to the original viscosity, so the xanthan gum solution has a pseudoplasticity. The relationship between shear force and viscosity is completely plastic. Xanthan gum pseudoplasticity is very prominent, this pseudoplasticity is extremely effective in stabilizing suspensions and emulsions.

During the experiment, it was found that when xanthan gum was dissolved in cold water stirred with a glass rod, if it was added too fast, the dried xanthan gum powder could not spread sufficiently and clumped together, after which it was difficult to dissolve. And slowly added to the high-speed rotor stirring in cold water, fully diffused, not serious clumping, dissolved solution viscosity, slightly yellow, poor transparency.

Weigh 198 g 65 ℃ of hot water, with high-speed rotor stirring, add 2 g of thickener, to observe the solubility of the thickener in hot water. (The following same as this)

It was found that the solution formed after xanthan gum was dissolved in hot water was slightly yellow, and the xanthan gum was better dispersed in hot water, easier to dissolve, and the clumping was not serious.

Sodium alginate and compounded sodium alginate

Sodium alginate, also known as sodium fucoidan, kelp gum, brown algae gum, alginate, is a natural polysaccharide carbohydrate extracted from kelp. It is widely used in food, medicine, textile, printing and dyeing, papermaking, daily-use chemical and other products as thickener, emulsifier, stabilizer, adhesive, sizing agent and so on.

Sodium alginate is highly hydrophilic and can be dissolved in cold and warm water to form a very viscous homogeneous solution. The true solution formed has the softness, homogeneity and other excellent characteristics that are difficult to obtain with other analogues, and it has a strong protective effect on colloid, and strong emulsifying power for oil and grease. It is found that sodium alginate is not easy to be dispersed in cold water, although it is easy to clump in the upper layer of water, but it is easy to be dissolved, and the viscosity of the solution is large and the transparency is high after dissolution, and the compounded sodium alginate is easier to clump than sodium alginate.

The dispersibility of sodium alginate in hot water is better than that of its in cold water, and it dissolves faster in hot water, forming a homogeneous and transparent solution.

Konjac Gum

Konjac gum is a hydrogel-like polysaccharide glucomannan (KGM) extracted from the tubers of various konjac plants, which is a kind of high molecular weight, non-ionic KGM.The particles of konjac flour swell and moisten when they meet water, and then rupture and release KGM polymer, which is not only widely used in the food industry as a food additive, but also plays an important role in agriculture, medicine, other industries and so on.

Experiments found that konjac gum in the appropriate mixing and adding speed, good dispersion, fast dissolution, dissolved to form a slightly powdery translucent solution.

Konjac gum in hot water dispersion and solubility are better, but its transparency is not good, and konjac gum dissolved in hot water has a large fishy odor.

Guar gum

Guar gum is made from guar bean seeds peeled to remove the endosperm part of the endosperm after cleaning, drying and crushing with water, and then pressurized hydrolysis with 20% ethanol precipitation, centrifugal separation, drying, crushing and a non-ionic galactomannan.

Commercial gum is generally white to light yellow-brown free-flowing powder, close to no smell, nor any other odor, generally containing 75% to 85% of the polysaccharide, 5% to 6% of the protein, 2% to 3% of the fiber and 1% of the ash. Guar gum can form a high viscosity solution when dissolved in water, so it can be widely used in food, industry and pharmaceutical industry. Experiments found that guar gum dispersibility is good, dissolved in water, forming a slightly yellow translucent solution.

Guar gum dissolves faster in hot water, forming a slightly yellow solution, not high transparency, and the resulting solution has the taste of bean powder.

Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)

Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is usually produced by the reaction of natural cellulose with caustic soda and monochloroacetic acid, an anionic polymer compound, the sodium salt of cellulose carboxymethyl ether, molecular weight 6400(±1000).CMC belongs to the modification of natural cellulose, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) has been formally referred to as the “modified cellulose”. “modified cellulose”.

CMC is white or milky white fibrous powder or particles, density 0.5-0.7 g/cm3, almost odorless, tasteless, hygroscopic, easily dispersed in water into a transparent gelatinous solution, insoluble in organic solvents such as ethanol, with bonding, thickening, enhancement, emulsification, water retention, suspension and other functions. In the experiment, it is found that CMC is poorly dispersed when dissolved in cold water, easy to hold together, so when used, CMC should be spread evenly and stirred constantly.CMC is easy to produce bubbles when dissolved in cold water with high speed stirring, and form a uniform transparent solution after a period of time of resting.

When CMC is added to hot water, it is slightly clumped, with stirring, CMC is completely dissolved in hot water, forming a highly transparent solution.

Modified starch

On the basis of the inherent characteristics of natural starch, in order to improve the performance of starch and expand its scope of application, physical, chemical or enzymatic treatment is used to introduce new functional groups into starch molecules or change the size of starch molecules and the nature of starch granules, so as to change the natural characteristics of starch (e.g., pasting temperature, thermal viscosity and its stability, freezing and thawing stability, gelatinization, film-forming property, transparency, etc.) and make it more suitable for certain application requirements. Suitable for certain application requirements. This kind of starch after secondary processing, change the nature of the starch collectively known as modified starch.

At present, the varieties and specifications of modified starch amount to more than 2,000 kinds, and the classification of modified starch is generally based on the way of processing, including oxidized starch, acid modified starch, starch ester, starch ether, cross-linked starch, cationic starch, grafted starch, cyclodextrin, white dextrin, pre-gelatinized starch (pre-gelatinized starch), bisaldehydic starch, and so on, of which the modified starch produced by maize starch has amounted to more than 200 kinds. There are only ten varieties of modified starch produced with corn starch as raw material in mainland China.

As one of the important raw materials for industry, modified starch can be widely used in paper making, food, textile, construction, medicine and other industries. Modified starch is mainly used in food industry as thickener, gelling agent, binder, emulsifier and stabilizer.

Modified starch is insoluble in hot water, after stirring stops, modified starch quickly sinks to the bottom of the beaker.

Carrageenan and Seika

Carrageenan is also known as unicorn gum, antler gum and carrageenan gum. Carrageenan is a hydrophilic colloid extracted from certain red algae seaweeds, and its chemical structure consists of calcium, potassium, sodium, and ammonium salts of polysaccharide sulfate esters composed of galactose and dehydrated galactose. Due to the different binding forms of the sulfate esters, it can be divided into K-type (Kappa), I-type (Iota) and L-type (Lambda).

It is widely used in the manufacture of jelly, ice cream, pastry, soft candy, canned food, meat products, eight treasures porridge, silver ear bird’s nest, soup food, cold food and so on.

Carrageenan is insoluble in cold water, but can be dissolved into a gelatinous mass, insoluble in organic solvents, soluble in hot water into a semi-transparent colloidal solution (in hot water above 70 ℃ to increase the rate of dissolution), the formation of heat irreversible gel.

With acacia bean gum, konjac gum, xanthan gum and other colloids to produce synergistic effect, can improve the elasticity of the gel and water retention. The experiment found that carrageenan is not soluble in cold water, carrageenan contains more impurities; fine carrageenan slightly soluble in cold water, a fine floc.

The solubility of fine carrageenan added to hot water was better than that of carrageenan, and the resulting solution was more transparent due to fewer impurities. The fine card solution placed in a surface dish, to be cooled to form a stable state of uniform transparent gel.

Linseed gum

Linseed gum (Linseed gum), also known as frankincense gum, caraway gum. Linen seed gum is based on flax (Linum usitatisssimum L.) seeds or seed coat as raw materials, through the extraction, concentration, refining and drying and other processing technology made of yellow granular crystals, or white to beige powder, dry powder has a light sweet flavor.

Linseed gum is a new type of food additives, widely used in the food industry, but also in other industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry. In the food industry as a thickener, binder, stabilizer, emulsifier and foaming agent; in the cosmetic industry, can be used as an important raw material for advanced cosmetics.

In the pharmaceutical industry is an excellent emulsifier of fat-soluble drugs and Chinese and Western medicine tablets, such as adhesives. Linseed gum has a high viscosity, strong water binding capacity, and has the formation of thermally reversible cold gel properties, so linseed gum in the field of food and non-food alternative to most of the non-gelatinized hydrophilic colloids, compared with other hydrophilic colloids, has a lower price.

Experiments did not find flaxseed gum soluble in cold water, but only slightly soluble, high-speed stirring does not dissolve, the formation of the dissolution, it is speculated that the flaxseed gum may not be used enough purity, containing more impurities.

Linseed gum dissolved less in hot water, after stopping stirring, most of the form of precipitation sunk to the bottom of the beaker.

Curdlan gum

Curd lan, also known as hot gel, coagulation polysaccharide, is produced by microorganisms, β-1,3-glycosidic bonds composed of water-insoluble glucan, is a class of suspension can be heated to form both hard and elastic thermo-irreversible gel and thermo-reversible gel polysaccharides of the general term.

In May 2006, China approved the use of Corian gum as a food additive, which can be used in raw and dry noodle products, raw and wet noodle products, noodles, tofu products, cooked meat products, western ham and meat enema.

It is insoluble in water, but can be easily dispersed in cold water, and can form a more uniform dispersion after high-speed mixing. It can be completely dissolved in alkaline solutions of pH12 or above, such as sodium hydroxide, trisodium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, etc., and is insoluble in alcohol and almost all other organic solutions.

According to the degree of heating, it can be formed into two kinds of colloids with different properties, i.e. low degree and high degree colloid. When the dispersed solution of the gel is heated from 55℃ to 65℃ and then cooled to below 40℃, it will form a thermo-reversible low degree gel. When the gel is heated to 60℃, it will return to the original state of dispersion. When the dispersion of Corian gum is heated to 80℃, it forms a solid thermally irreversible high degree gum.

As a gelatinizing agent, structure modifier, thickener, stabilizer, etc. used in the production of jelly, noodles, hamburger, ham, edible fiber film, fried food, frozen food, low-calorie food (diet food), etc., cortex gum can improve the water-holding properties, viscoelasticity, stability of the product, and has a thickening effect. Cortex Gum can be added either in powder form or in suspension form, and the concentration can be chosen from 0.4% to 6.0%.

It dissolves faster in hot water, the solution obtained is uniform and stable, and the gel is formed after cooling.

Microcrystalline cellulose

Microcrystalline cellulose can be produced by controlled hydrolysis of α-cellulose with dilute inorganic acid solution. After hydrolysis, the cellulose is filtered, purified and spray-dried with water slurry to form dry porous particles with wide distribution of particle size, which are white, odorless, tasteless and insoluble in water, ethanol, acetone or toluene.

Microcrystalline cellulose is widely used in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and other industries, different particle size and water content have different characteristics and application scope.

Microcrystalline cellulose is widely used in pharmaceutical preparations, mainly used as diluent and binder in oral tablets and capsules, not only can be used for wet granulation can also be used for dry direct compression of tablets, and a certain degree of lubrication and disintegration effect, in the preparation of tablets is very useful.

It is also useful in the preparation of tablets with certain lubricating and disintegrating effects. It can be used in food products for emulsification and stability. Microcrystalline cellulose is insoluble in cold water. Microcrystalline cellulose is also insoluble in hot water, and precipitates at the bottom when stirring is stopped.

Gellan gum

Gellan gum (GellanGum) is a kind of microorganism edible gum developed by Kelco in 1980s. It is an extracellular polysaccharide gel produced by aerobic fermentation of Pseudomonaseloden under neutral conditions with glucose as the carbon source, ammonium nitrate as the nitrogen source and some inorganic salts woven into the culture medium, which is a new type of fully transparent gel.

Gellan gum is a polymer sugar compound made of four sugar molecules sequentially as D-glucose, D-glucuronic acid, D-glucose, L-rhamnose connected by glycosidic bond, in which the first glucose molecule is connected by β-1,4 glycosidic bond. Gellan gum dry powder is beige, no special taste and odor, about 150 ℃ without melting and decomposition.

It has good heat and acid resistance and high stability to enzymes. Insoluble in non-polar organic solvents, insoluble in cold water, but can be directly dispersed in deionized water under stirring, to improve the concentration of cations in water, such as medium hardness of water (equivalent to 180mg/kg of CaCO3), to help its dispersion in water. However, ions such as Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+ (e.g., hard water) can prevent the dispersed gellan gum from being heated and hydrated, and the higher the concentration of cations, the less it can be hydrated even if it is heated to boiling.

In the dispersed water, adding a small amount of integrating agent (such as sodium citrate, sodium hexametaphosphate) can make the dispersed gellan gum can be hydrated even in very hard water, as long as the amount of the added simmering agent and the amount of Ca2+ and other content is appropriate, and can even be dissolved in cold water.

Hot uniform hydration of the gel solution can be cooled directly into a gel, but need to add cations before condensation, and with the increase in the concentration of cations can make the gel hardness and modulus increased to the maximum value, but the concentration of more than a certain limit, and will make the gel hardness and modulus decline, and a cation and the optimal concentration of bivalent cations is not the same.

Gellan gum is widely used in foodstuffs such as puddings, jellies, sugar, beverages, dairy products, jam products, bakery fillings, surface smoothing agents, confectionery, icing and flavoring. It is also used in non-food industries such as microbial cultures, slow release drugs, toothpaste etc.

Gellan gum dissolves faster in hot water and forms a homogeneous stable system.

Instant Agar

The main components are agarose and agaropectin, which are made up of galactosylated agarose. The different processing techniques and raw materials seaweed determine the different gelling and solubility of agar. It exists as a disordered molecule in aqueous solution, and after cooling, it forms a double-helix three-dimensional cross-structure. Its distinctive feature is the same as that of carrageenan, and its gelation is thermoreversible. Its gel structure is a three-dimensional three-dimensional space mesh structure.

It dissolves completely in 10 minutes at low temperature 65-85℃, and it is easy to be dispersed in cold water without agglomeration.
It has a certain synergistic effect with sugar, which can improve the gel strength in the presence of sugar, and also improve the transparency of the gel when the sugar concentration exceeds 40%.

Its viscosity is basically unaffected when it is kept warm at 90℃ for 0.5 hours in the range of pH 4-10, but the viscosity decreases when it is below pH 4.0.

Its gel strength can basically remain stable in the range of pH 4-7, and the strength attenuation is more obvious when the pH is less than 4. It is by utilizing its characteristics in acidic conditions that jellies with soft and smooth texture, as well as various kinds of puddings and frozen snacks can be made.
Its gel temperature is around 35-40°C at a concentration of 0.5% or more, and its melting temperature is generally around 85-95°C. The difference in temperature between the two is very large. The temperature difference between the two is very large, about 50 ℃, this phenomenon is called “hysteresis” (Hysteresis). Factors affecting the freezing point and melting point are mainly concentration, salts, and the addition of sugar. In addition, the freezing and melting points vary slightly at different concentrations.

Its gel strength and concentration are basically proportional, the higher the concentration, the greater the gel strength.

It was boiled at 100℃ for different times, and its gel strength was measured after being placed at 20℃ for 15h, which showed that the gel strength was basically unaffected by the heating time within 1 hour, indicating that it has good heat resistance.

Agar has good gel, thickening, suspension and stability, superior flavor release and improve taste and other properties, but also has the health function of dietary fiber supplementation, is widely used in a variety of fields.

I. Application in yogurt:
Mouthfeel: good mouth solubility, refreshing, delicate, no drawing
Good flavor release: does not mask the flavor release of the product itself. Agar has the function of fat replacement, the production of “zero-fat”, “low-fat”, “sugar-free” and other products can significantly increase the product’s sense of fat and smoothness of taste.
Condition: Stacked feeling, short structure
Shear resistance: effectively resist mechanical shear, good viscosity recovery in the later stage.
Usage: A small amount of addition can significantly improve the quality of yogurt and ensure the taste and flavor of yogurt.
Superior water retention: agar’s own water absorption rate can be up to 250 times its own weight.
Stability: Due to the solidification point and melting point of agar there is a certain lag (around 40 ℃ solidification, around 85 ℃ dissolution), so agar is currently a better kind of colloid to ensure that the consistency of yogurt is constant. Ordinary stabilizers in the production of yogurt in the low temperature and room temperature state of the viscosity changes greatly, the viscosity at room temperature decreased. The viscosity of agar can be well maintained with temperature change.

Application in Jelly Pudding
Natural and safe seaweed plant polysaccharide
Easily dispersed, good solubility (soluble at 85℃), strong gelation.
According to the different amount of addition, it can form soft and hard and brittle texture.
Synergistic with other colloids.
Gel formation starts at 35-40℃, gel melts above 85℃.
Refreshing taste, good flavor release.

Third, in the application of liquid beverages
① Has a thickening and stabilizing effect, compared with other viscosity-enhancing colloids, no sticky taste, only a small amount of addition can provide the product with a full and refreshing taste.
② superior flavor release, will not mask the release of the flavor of the food itself.
③ It has thixotropic viscosity, which gives the liquid beverage a thick texture, but with little residual aftertaste, good mouthfeel, and a very smooth mouthfeel.
④ Has a certain gel, low concentration in solution can form a fluid three-dimensional network structure, has a good suspension, so that some difficult to dissolve ingredients such as proteins, fibers, powder ingredients, etc. to produce a better suspension effect. And improve the stability of the beverage in the shelf life, to prevent the precipitation of water layer phenomenon.

Other areas of application:
1、It can be used as an additive or incremental agent for pies, the gel of pastry lace, and the stabilization of French egg white cookies, sugar-coated foods, homemade cookies, and ice cream cream-type creamy foods.
2、It can be used as stabilizer and filling agent in many sugar foods such as marshmallows, sugar fruit slices, stick candies and tough and elastic fruit jelly foods.
3、It can increase the viscosity of jam in jam production.
4、It can be added into soft white cheese, cream cheese cake and fermented cow milk products, which can help to reduce the slurry of dairy products and improve the consistency and slice of cheese.
5、It can be used as thickener and gelling agent for canned poultry meat products and aquatic products.
6、It can be used as a mold-keeping agent for semi-solid fluid food.