CHAPTER 7 - Unified Application of the Materials-Science Approach to the Structural Properties of Biopolymer Co-Gels throughout the Industrially Relevant Level of Solids

Abstract

Phase separation in protein and polysaccharide gels remains one of the basic tools of achieving the required structural properties and textural profile in food product formulations. Recent understanding of the structural properties of single and composite biopolymer gels in a high-sugar environment links molecular dynamics and phase topology across the range of solids with industrial interest. Food processing can lead to composite gels of disparate structural hence textural properties. Biopolymers exhibit a range of rheological behavior depending on timescale and magnitude of the applied deformation. Fundamental research in high-viscosity, low water-content materials have recently seen rapid growth mainly due to work on biopolymer composites in relation to novel formulation of soft confectionery products. This chapter also provides insights into the wealth of information to be gleaned from a combination of mechanical and spectroscopic measurements in complex biomaterials with a nutraceutical function. Finally, the empirical and fundamental tools described may help to bridge the divide in the analysis of the two “types” of composite materials (from low to high solids) thus dealing effectively with the specific and often intricate problems of their science and applications.