Effect of glycerol on plasticization of dried gel beads

• 1、School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122

Abstract：Structural collapse and texture hardeningare easy to happen during the drying process of gel beads.Thisstudyinvestigatesthe influence of different drying methods and addition of glycerol on the morphology,encapsulation characteristics and texture of core-shell peppermint oilgel beads.The waterdistribution in the gel beads and the changes of functional group in the gel membrance before and after the addition of glycerol are investigated by low field nuclear magnetic(LF-NMR) and fourier infrared spectroscopy, respectively.The results show that the morphology and properties of gel beads are better after vacuum drying. The hardness of the gel beads with glycerolis suddenly reduced from 1719.5 g to 536.9 g, the flexibility of which is enhanced, and the loading efficiency of gel beads still higher than 35%.In addition, the results of low field nuclear magnetic indicate that glycerol can delay the dehydration of the gel menbrance during drying process,improve the morphology of the gel beads, and affect the water distribution of the dried gel beads.The hydrogen bond interaction is found between sodium alginate and glycerolin the gel membrance, which means glycerol has good plasticity and is beneficial to improve the stability of gel beads during the drying process.

Keywords： gel bead dry glycerol plasticization