The Application Of Microcrystalline Cellulose In Ice Cream

With the development of our living standard, products with nutrition and health carefunction have been warmly welcomed by consumers. Healthy ice-cream will become thetrend of devlopment in ice-cream industry. Microcrystalline cellulose as natural hydrolysisproduct properties is of natural and pure, non-toxic harmless, and abundant resources. Inaddition, microcrystalline cellulose has excellent processing characteristics and functionalfeatures, which has been widely used in pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and chemicalindustries. Based on the above, we choose the microcrystalline cellulose as main researchobject. The main advancements of this thesis as followings:We take viscosity as the measured index, measuring how pH, salinity, homogenizingand aging time influence on viscosity of microcrystalline cellulose through TCW3-RVATecMaster viscometer. Viscometer parameters are set to temperature25℃and speed1440rpm/min. The results show that microcrystalline cellulose has a strong acid, alkali and saltresistance, whose viscosity do not change with the change of pH and salt concentration ofsolution. Viscosity of the microcrystalline cellulose solution reaches maximum value whena quality improver, sodium phosphate, whose concentration ranges from1percent or3percent, which is added into microcrystalline cellulose solution. Therefore, the aboveconcentration of sodium phosphate can improve the viscosity of microcrystalline cellulose.The viscosity of microcrystalline cellulose increases as homogenizing times increasing;Viscosity of the microcrystalline cellulose does not change obviously when aging timeincreases, so manufacturers should cut down aging time during production of ice cream.Viscosity of the single microcrystalline cellulose whose concentration is close to watercan be increased when mixed with the commonly used colloidal. We make combinationcolloidal solutions by mixing microcrystalline cellulose with tamarind gum, carrageenan,CMC, xanthan gum, konjac gum, guar gum and gelatin, respectively, and the ratios ofmicrocrystalline cellulose to one of the above colloids are0:10,1:9,2:8,3:7,4:6,5:5,6:4,7:3,8:2,9:1and10:0, respectively. Results of viscosities of the combination solutionsmeasured through TCW3-RVA TecMaster viscometer indicate that optimum ratios ofmicrocrystalline cellulose to tamarind gum, xanthan gum, carrageenan and CMC are1:9,1:9,6:4and1:9, respectively.In addition, we also further study on the effect of microcrystalline cellulose inhibitingon ice crystals. By comparing the size and distribution of ice crystals in microcrystallinecellulose and other common colloidal’s sugars solution, we conclude that konjac gumcolloidal’s sugar-solution contains smallest ice crystals, and the others sorted from small to large are microcrystalline cellulose, carrageenan, xanthan gum, CMC, guar gum, tamarindgum. And we also find that microcrystalline cellulose owns a better effect on inhibiting icecrystals, but the specific mechanism of inhibition is still not clear.In the study, we mainly do some research on application of microcrystalline cellulosein producing ice creams. On the basis of prior research, we select microcrystalline cellulose,xanthan gum and carrageenan as single variable, and give a comprehensive assessmentconsidering inflation, melting rate and sensory evaluation as indexes. The results show thatthe optimum amount of xanthan gum ranges from0.15percent to0.2percent, preferably0.175percent; carrageenan ranges from0.015percent to0.025percent, preferably0.02percent; microcrystalline cellulose ranges from0.3percent to0.4percent, preferably0.35percent. Response surface experiments completed by Box-Behnken are conducted. In thestudy, stabilizer blend is optimized by central composite and response analysis is included.The significance of the above three factors affecting melting rate decreases in the followingorder: MCC, xanthan gum, carrageenan. The significance of the above three factorsaffecting sensory evaluation decreases in the following order: carrageenan, MCC, xanthangum. Analysis results based on response and contour plots show that all pairwiseinteractions significantly affect melting rate and sensory evaluation. Optimal componentsare as follows: microcrystalline cellulose0.36percent, carrageenan0.025percent, xanthangum0.18percent. Under these conditions, overrun of t ice cream is89percent, melting rateis2.65percent, sensory evaluation is86.39.The basic formula of ice cream, ingredients, processing equipment and processingconditions are all invariant test. Based on the study of nature of microcrystalline celluloseand application of it in ice cream, we provide a good theory and practical foundation forexpanding applications of microcrystalline cellulose in producing ice cream.