Hydrocolloids in fried foods. A review

Many food ingredients and additives can be used to improve fried food, but hydrocolloids are the principal category of functional agents that have been used for the past forty years. Hydrocolloids play two main roles in fried food development. One is to form a fine ‘invisible’ coating, practically on their own, when their main purpose is to avoid excessive oil absorption during the pre-frying and frying processes. In the other, when they are added to the batter among its other ingredients, they are used to avoid oil absorption too, but they also act as viscosity control agents, improve adhesion, pick-up control and freeze-thaw stability or help to retain the crispness of the battered/breaded fried foods. This article reviews the wide range of functions that hydrocolloids perform in fried foods.