The behavior of some hydrocolloids widely used as stabilizers of low-oil-content water emulsions (starch, pectins, and a locust bean gum-pectin blend) at the air-water and model oil-water interface is analyzed. Their influence on the surface and interface activity of typical food emulsifiers, such as β-lactoglobulin and monostearin, is also considered. It is demonstrated that the greatest interfacial activity is provided by one of the commercial pectins studied. It is capable of modifying the characteristics of monostearin and β-lactoglobulin interfacial films in a different way depending on both the nature of the oil phase and the type of surfactant used.
Practical application: This research may contribute not only to enhance the final-consumer life quality by optimizing low-oil-content food emulsion formulations which contain "natural" stabilizers, but also to increase the added value of by-products of some fruit juices as well as of sugar factories since pectin can be manufactured not only from citrus and apple peels but also from sugar beet pulps.
© 2012 Institute of Food Technologists®