Compression of gellan gels. Part II: Effect of sugars

The effect of sucrose, glucose, fructose and their mixtures on the gelation of 0.5 wt% low acyl gellan in the presence of potassium chloride (100 mM) was investigated by large deformation compression experiments. The sugar concentration varied from 0 to 15 wt% whereas all their combinations at a final concentration of 15 wt% were also studied. Stress at failure and strain at failure along with Youngʹs modulus were calculated from each compression curve. Samples prior to compression were refrigerated at 5 °C for 1, 2 and 24 h. Glucose showed no contribution to the gellan network strength but decreased the firmness of the gels. On the other hand, fructose and sucrose enhanced the strength of the network, with sucrose being slightly more effective, but had no effect on firmness. This behaviour depended solely on the presence of each sugar and not in their concentration. The elasticity of the gels was not significantly altered by the addition of sugars or their mixtures. Strength and firmness shared similar profiles when mixtures of sugars were used to promote gelation. Sugars, when in mixtures, showed no synergistic interactions whereas their type seems to affect the properties of the resulting gels.