Fruit-alginate interactions in novel restructured products

Novel, healthy, value-added restructured fruit products meet consumer deman d for an improved diet containing increasing amounts of fruit. As primary i ngredients, fruit purees promise to provide new outlets for visually imperf ect fruit or fruit that is too small for the flesh or canned markets. Gener ally these new product forms require a texturizing agent such as alginate t o control the functional properties of the final restructured fruit product s. Traditional alginate and pectin gel systems are reviewed in this manuscr ipt as are mixed gel systems. Recent research results describing the produc tion and properties of novel restructured products containing high-guluroni c alginate and peach puree without any additional calcium or sugar source a re reviewed. Effects of fruit/alginate interactions on gel formation condit ions and texture profile results are evaluated.