M. Papageorgiou et al., STERIC EXCLUSION PHENOMENA IN GELLAN GELATIN SYSTEMS .1. PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES OF SINGLE AND BINARY GELS, Food hydrocolloids, 8(2), 1994, pp. 97-112
The scientific and technological aspects of gellan/gelatin systems wer
e investigated under conditions of low pH and in the presence of a wid
e range of cations so that the normally important electrostatic intera
ctions between the two polymers should be suppressed. The structural a
nd textural characteristics of mixed gels were monitored using the tec
hniques of mechanical spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry
and compression testing. Under such conditions where positive interact
ions between the two components would be minimized. it was found that
results could be described on the basis of thermodynamically incompati
ble polymers which gel independently in their respective phases. Intel
ligent manipulation of polymer concentration and ionic strength promot
es phase inversion from a gellan continuous phase to a system where ge
latin forms the supporting matrix. The knowledge gained in this study
might assist in developing food products with novel textures.