Effect of black wolfberry anthocyanin and maltitol on the gelation and microstructural properties of curdlan/gellan gum hybrid gels

Abstract BACKGROUND Laboratory scale experiments have shown that curdlan and gellan gum gelled together as curdlan/gellan gum (CG) hybrid gels showed better gel properties than the individual curdlan and gellan gum. In this study, CG and black wolfberry anthocyanin (BWA), CG and maltitol (ML) hybrid gels were constructed using CG hybrid gel as matrix. The effects of BWA or ML on the gel properties and microstructure of CG hybrid gels were investigated and a confectionery gel was developed. RESULTS The presence of BWA increased the storage modulus ( G' ) value of CG at 0.1 Hz, whereas ML had little effect on the G' value of CG. The addition of BWA (5 g L −1 ) and ML (0.3 mol L −1 ) increased the melting and gelling temperatures of CG hybrid gels to 42.4 °C and 34.1 °C and 44.2 °C and 33.2 °C, respectively. Meanwhile, the relaxation time T 22 in CG‐ML and CG‐BWA hybrid gels was reduced to 91.96 and 410.27 ms , indicating the strong binding between BWA and CG, ML and CG. The hydrogen bond interaction between BWA or ML and CG was confirmed by the shift in the hydroxyl stretching vibration peak. Moreover, the microstructures of CG‐ML and CG‐BWA hybrid gels were denser than that of CG. In addition, confectionery gel containing CG‐BWA‐ML has good chewing properties. CONCLUSION These results indicated that the incorporation of BWA or ML could improve the structure of CG hybrid gels and assign a sustainability potential for the development of confectionery gels based on CG complex. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.