Effects of Xanthan Gum Additions on the Viscoelasticity, Structure and Storage Stability Characteristics of Prebiotic Custard Desserts

• Published in: Food biophysics Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 116 - 128
• Main Authors: Zapata Noreña, Caciano P., Bayarri, Sara, Costell, Elvira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Dairy products; Desserts; Food Science; Gels; Microscopic analysis; Milk; Original Article; Prebiotics; Storage; Variance analysis; Dairy custard; Rheology; Inulin; Milk
• ISSN: 1557-1858; 1557-1866
• DOI: 10.1007/s11483-014-9371-2

Dairy custard is a dessert of semisolid consistency, whose main ingredients are milk, sugar and a gelling component. The aim of this work was to study the influence of the addition of xanthan gum on the rheological behavior and the structure of low-fat custard, which was prepared with the addition of inulin as a fat replacer. The results indicated that the magnitudes of the storage modulus and the loss modulus increased with the measurement frequency. A skimmed milk sample without xanthan and inulin exhibited fluid-like behavior characteristics. All other samples exhibited mechanical spectra that were typical of weak gels, suggesting that both xanthan and inulin can increase the elastic characteristics of the samples. The rheological properties of the custards also changed during storage. An ANOVA study suggested significant interactions among the variables (inulin, xanthan, type of milk and time of storage) on the viscoelastic properties. To substitute for the high fat content typically observed in dairy custard, a dendrogram of similarity and a microscopic analysis indicated that a formulation of skimmed milk containing both inulin and xanthan gum (0.25 %) could prevent increases in the rates of inulin aggregation.