Journal
CRITICAL REVIEWS IN FOOD SCIENCE AND NUTRITION
Volume 52, Issue 4, Pages 334-346Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2010.500234
Keywords
Gel; gelling agents; multi-component gels; mechanism; hydrocolloids
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Food gels are viscoelastic substances and several gelled products are manufactured throughout the world. The gelling agents in foods are usually polysaccharides and proteins. In food gels, the polymer molecules are not cross-linked by covalent bonds with the exception of disulphide bonds in some protein gels. Instead, the molecules are held together by a combination of weak inter-molecular forces like hydrogen bonds, electrostatic forces, Van derWaals forces, and hydrophobic interactions. Polysaccharides including hydrocolloids are strongly hydrated in aqueous medium but they tend to have less ordered structures. The mechanism of gelation depends on the nature of the gelling agent(s) and on the conditions of gel formation like the temperature, the presence of ions, the pH, and the concentration of gelling agents, etc. Characterization of gels can be performed in several ways of which rheological measurements are frequently practiced. Multi-component or mixed gel system is an important area of interest in which two or more gelling components are simultaneously used to achieve certain specific structural and functional characteristics. We here discuss about the different gels and gelling agents, the characterization of gels, and the mechanism of gelation with an emphasis on mixed or multi-component gels that would have significant commercial applications.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available