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Gels
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Advanced Research in Food Gels
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Advanced Research in Food Gels

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 8107

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Patricia Lopez-Sanchez

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Guest Editor
Division of Food and Nutrition Science, Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden
Interests: cell wall polysaccharides; hydrogels; rheology; food microstructure
Dr. Anna Ström

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Applied Chemistry, Chalmers University of Technology , Göteborg, Sweden
Interests: polysaccharides; hydrogels; scattering; rheology; solute-solvent interaction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food gels have been used for decades in the food industry. In recent years, advanced design methodologies and characterisation techniques (spectroscopic, microscopic, scattering, and material testing) have broadened our understanding of the relationship between the structure and rheological properties of plant biopolymers. The biopolymers’ natures, their gelling mechanisms and design principles determine the structural, rheological and mechanical properties of food gels; with implications for food manufacturability, food texture, product stability, nutritional properties and the targeted delivery of bioactives in the gastrointestinal tract. Emerging approaches in the advanced design and characterisation techniques of gels may improve our utilisation of plant-based resources and establish new health and industrial applications for food gels.

Dr. Patricia Lopez-Sanchez
Dr. Anna Ström
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant polysaccharides
  • plant proteins
  • microalgae
  • macroalgae
  • hydrogels
  • aerogels
  • emulsion gels
  • rheology
  • microstructure
  • sensory

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3259 KiB  
Article
Impact of Glucose on the Nanostructure and Mechanical Properties of Calcium-Alginate Hydrogels
by Patricia Lopez-Sanchez, Ali Assifaoui, Fabrice Cousin, Josefine Moser, Mauricio R. Bonilla and Anna Ström
Gels 2022, 8(2), 71; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8020071 - 22 Jan 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2866
Abstract
Alginate is a polysaccharide obtained from brown seaweed that is widely used in food, pharmaceutical, and biotechnological applications due to its versatility as a viscosifier and gelling agent. Here, we investigated the influence of the addition of glucose on the structure and mechanical [...] Read more.
Alginate is a polysaccharide obtained from brown seaweed that is widely used in food, pharmaceutical, and biotechnological applications due to its versatility as a viscosifier and gelling agent. Here, we investigated the influence of the addition of glucose on the structure and mechanical properties of alginate solutions and calcium-alginate hydrogels produced by internal gelation through crosslinking with Ca2+. Using 1H low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS), we showed that alginate solutions at 1 wt % present structural heterogeneities at local scale whose size increases with glucose concentration (15–45 wt %). Remarkably, the molecular conformation of alginate in the gels obtained from internal gelation by Ca2+ crosslinking is similar to that found in solution. The mechanical properties of the gels evidence an increase in gel strength and elasticity upon the addition of glucose. The fitting of mechanical properties to a poroelastic model shows that structural changes within solutions prior to gelation and the increase in solvent viscosity contribute to the gel strength. The nanostructure of the gels (at local scale, i.e., up to few hundreds of Å) remains unaltered by the presence of glucose up to 30 wt %. At 45 wt %, the permeability obtained by the poroelastic model decreases, and the Young’s modulus increases. We suggest that macro (rather than micro) structural changes lead to this behavior due to the creation of a network of denser zones of chains at 45 wt % glucose. Our study paves the way for the design of calcium-alginate hydrogels with controlled structure for food and pharmaceutical applications in which interactions with glucose are of relevance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Food Gels)
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13 pages, 2447 KiB  
Article
Providing Stability to High Internal Phase Emulsion Gels Using Brewery Industry By-Products as Stabilizers
by Adrián López-García, Gemma Moraga, Isabel Hernando and Amparo Quiles
Gels 2021, 7(4), 245; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels7040245 - 01 Dec 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2190
Abstract
The modern brewing industry generates high amounts of solid wastes containing biopolymers—proteins and polysaccharides—with interesting technological and functional properties. The novelty of this study was to use raw by-product from the brewing industry in the development of high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) gels. [...] Read more.
The modern brewing industry generates high amounts of solid wastes containing biopolymers—proteins and polysaccharides—with interesting technological and functional properties. The novelty of this study was to use raw by-product from the brewing industry in the development of high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) gels. Thus, the influence of the emulsion’s aqueous phase pH and the by-product’s concentration on structural and physical stability of the emulsions was studied. The microstructure was analyzed using cryo-field emission scanning electron microscopy. To evaluate the rheological behavior, oscillatory tests (amplitude and frequency) and flow curves were conducted. Moreover, the physical stability of the emulsions and the color were also studied. The increase in by-product concentration and the pH of the aqueous phase allowed development of HIPE gels with homogeneously distributed oil droplets of regular size and polyhedral structure. The data from the rheology tests showed a more stable structure at higher pH and higher by-product concentration. This study widens the possibilities of valorizing the brewing industry’s by-products as stabilizers when designing emulsions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Food Gels)
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16 pages, 2746 KiB  
Article
Effect of Addition of Chokeberry Juice Concentrate and Foaming Agent on the Physical Properties of Agar Gel
by Ewa Jakubczyk and Anna Kamińska-Dwórznicka
Gels 2021, 7(3), 137; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels7030137 - 10 Sep 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2238
Abstract
This study aimed to determine the effect of the addition of chokeberry juice concentrate (CJC) and foaming agent (egg albumin) with different percentages on the selected physical properties of agar gel. The agar gels with the addition of 5, 10, and 20% concentrations [...] Read more.
This study aimed to determine the effect of the addition of chokeberry juice concentrate (CJC) and foaming agent (egg albumin) with different percentages on the selected physical properties of agar gel. The agar gels with the addition of 5, 10, and 20% concentrations of chokeberry juice concentrate and with fructose addition were prepared. In addition, the foamed gels with different concentrations of egg albumin (in the range 0.5–2.0%) and CJC were produced. The water content, colour, density, hold-up and some mechanical and TPA (Texture Profile Analysis) descriptors as well some structural and acoustic emission parameters of non-aerated and foamed gels were analysed. The addition of CJC changed the colour of agar gel with fructose, the attractive appearance of the aerated gel was also linked with the addition of concentrate. The addition of 20% of CJC and foaming agent created samples with very low hardness, cohesiveness, and gumminess, and the structure of the aerated samples was characterised by the larger bubble diameter and the wider distribution of their size. The more promising texture and structure properties were obtained for samples with aerated gels with 5 and 10% addition of chokeberry juice concentrate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Food Gels)
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