The properties and applications of citrus fiber (Part 1)

Release Time: 2023-11-28Read The Number: 82

What is citrus fiber?

（一）Citrus fiber is a dietary fiber extracted from citrus fruits. It has good water retention, oil retention, thickening, emulsification and gel properties.

Ο Mainly insoluble dietary fiber, containing a certain amount of soluble fiber
Ο Super water holding capacity
Ο Water and oil absorption, thickening, gelability, temperature, shear, acid and alkali resistance
Ο Natural emulsifying ability
Ο Replace thickeners, emulsifiers, stabilizers
Ο It absorbs water and expands, filling in the missing taste of low-sugar and low-fat systems.

Citrus fiber properties

1、Water absorption formability / Water absorption thickening

Ο Absorbs water naturally without the help of external force

Ο This method has a small water retention capacity (20g/g), but has the best effect among the same type of raw materials.

Ο This water retention method has better hardness

2、Gel thickenin

Ο Citrus fibers are sheared to provide gel thickening properties

Ο This method has a large water retention capacity, but the texture is soft

3、Oil retention capacity

Ο There is no obvious effect in the presence of both oil and water.

4、Emulsifying capacity

Ο Emulsion stabilization through high consistency

（一）The specificity of citrus fiber is thickening and high hardness, which is the result of the synergistic effect of insoluble fiber and soluble fiber, making it more suitable for improving water retention and texture in solid products.

Note: Other plant fibers lack consistency; colloids lack hard texture

（二）Citrus fiber The synergistic effect of insoluble fiber and soluble fiber is different from the compounding of soluble and insoluble components

*After compounding plant fiber and colloid, the hardness is only 1/8 of the original, and the effect will be even worse in the natural water absorption state.

*The soluble fiber content in citrus fiber is about 20%

Ο Colloids preferentially bind water, and plant fibers have poor water absorption capacity, and finally show colloidal properties.

（三）The gel thickening properties of citrus fiber are weak gelling and strong thickening, making it more suitable for thickening, stabilizing and suspending liquid and semi-solid products.

*Note: The gel thickening properties of colloids are weak in gel and weak in thickening, strong in gel and strong in thickening.

（四）Citrus fiber gel thickening effect has good tolerance to temperature and shear

Differences between citrus fiber and other fibers

（一）The water retention capacity of orange fiber is much higher than that of other plant fibers

（二）The continuous water absorption capacity of citrus fiber is much higher than that of other plant fibers

Ο Compared with citrus fiber, other plant fibers have poor continuous water absorption capacity, no consistency, and poor water retention stability.

*Comparison of the continuous water absorption capacity of citrus fiber and other plant fibers

（三）Citrus fiber absorbs water quickly and has greater process applicability in practical applications.

Ο Shearing: Other plant fibers have poor water absorption capacity. Increasing the dosage under shearing conditions can achieve a water absorption effect similar to that of citrus fiber.

*Note: The texture of citrus fiber is affected by soluble fiber, and the data is lower than the actual texture data of insoluble fiber.

Ο Natural water absorption: Other plant fibers have poor water absorption speed and applicability. In actual application, even if the increase is increased, the water retention effect is still far behind that of citrus fiber.

（四）The greater the shear strength of citrus fiber, the better the thickening effect, and the greater the difference from other plant fibers.

In this article we talked about the characteristics of citrus fiber. Next time we will discuss the differences between citrus fibers and the application of citrus fibers in various products, so stay tuned!