Influence of gluten and gum additives and cryogenic treatment on some properties and morphology of wheat starch complex gels.

The influence of gums (guar and xanthan) and gluten additives on the physicochemical properties and structural features of wheat starch gels (8%, w/w) subjected to cryogenic treatment at various temperatures (―9°C, ―20°C, ―40°C) was studied. Shear modulus and breaking stress of the gels were measured, the gels' morphology was studied with optical microscopy and the local mobility of water in the gels was determined with ESR. The total concentration of polysaccharide additives did not exceed 1 % (w/w), and a 65:35 (w/w) mixture of guar and xanthan gums proved to be the optimal additive, which caused a noticeable increase in rigidity and strength of the resulting complex gels. Shear modulus and breaking stress of the gels decreased with lowering the temperature of the cryogenic treatment. The heterogeneous morphology of thin sections of the gel samples was revealed via optical microscopy. ESR studies showed that the local mobility of water was much lower in the gels than in pure water.