Analysis of gelation properties of peach-κ-carrageenan gels: Effect of erythritol

Based on the amounts of dietary fiber, we selected peach pulp was as the main matrix to develop the peach-κ-carrageenan edible gels (PC-KC), in which erythritol was used as the cosolvent. Effects of erythritol concentrations (0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9%, w/w) on the characteristics of PC-KC gels were studied. TPA results showed that erythritol (0%∼5%) improved the textural properties. The critical level of erythritol was found to be 5% (w/w). Additionally, erythritol (especially, with the addition of 5%) enhanced the WHC of PC-KC gels accompanied with the lowest syneresis (7.72%), illustrating the strong water capture capacity, which was confirmed by the changes in water mobility characterized through LF-NMR. SEM showed a dense network with more junction zones after the erythritol addition. Besides that, intensified and variation peaks in FT-IR spectra speculate the synergistic interactions. XRD showed erythritol improved the crystallinity of PC-KC gels. Overall, the quality of the PC-KC gels could be improved by erythritol with the appropriate concentration, which might provide the beneficial information for the formation mechanism of edible gel, in which fruit pulp was used as the main matrix and erythritol as the cosolvent.