A study on the synergetic interaction of kappa-carrageenan with konjac gum

The polysaccharide structure-forming agent carrageenan has found wide application in food production. One of its advantages is an ability to show synergism with different hydrocolloids - xanthan gum, guar gum, locust bean gum and others. The possibility of the combined use of carrageenan and konjac gum to produce strong stable gels was studied in this work. The objects of the research were 1% gels of refined kappa-carrageenan (E407) and konjac gum (E 425 (i)) in different concentrations with the following ratios of carrageenan and konjac gum: control - 1 : 0; No.1 - 7 : 1; No.2 - 3 : 1; No.3 - 5 : 3; No.4 - 1 : 1; No.5 - 3 : 5; No.6 - 1 : 3; No.7 - 1 : 7; No.8 - 0 : 1. A quantity of syneretic moisture was determined in the prepared gels during cold storage for 14 days; gel hardness and springiness were determined using a universal testing machine Shimadzu AGS-1kN series (Japan). It was found that introduction of konjac gum in an amount of up to 0.625 % into the composition of the kappacarrageenan gel facilitated an increase in gel hardness and elasticity with the exponential dependency. The following increase in the gum dosage led to a reduction of gel hardness and springiness. The use of konjac gum did not have a significant effect on carrageenan syneresis. It was established that the optimal ratio of carrageenan and konjac gum for producing strong and plastic gels was 1:1.