Acacia Gum as a Natural Anti-Plasticizer for the Production of Date Syrup Powder: Sorption Isotherms, Physicochemical Properties, and Data Modeling

• Published in: Foods Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 50
• Main Authors: Mansoori, Nasim, Majzoobi, Mahsa, Gavahian, Mohsen, Badii, Fojan, Farahnaky, Asgar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 05-01-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: acacia gum; anti-plasticizer; Antiplasticizers; Bulk density; Caking; Chemical composition; date powder; date syrup; Drying; Food science; Glass transition temperature; Glucose; Gums; Investigations; Isotherms; Laboratories; Mathematical models; modeling; Moisture content; palm date; phoenix dactylifera; Physicochemical properties; Plasticizers; powder stability; Sorption; sorption isotherm; Sucrose; Syrup; Transition temperatures; Water content; Iran; United States > US; Japan; Germany; date syrup; acacia gum; modeling; anti-plasticizer; physicochemical properties; Phoenix dactylifera; date powder; palm date; sorption isotherm; powder stability
• ISSN: 2304-8158; 2304-8158
• DOI: 10.3390/foods9010050

The thermoplastic and hygroscopic behaviors of date syrup (DS) challenge the DS drying process. In this context, DS was mixed with 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60% acacia gum (AG) and subjected to a drum dryer. The chemical composition, bulk density (
), caking degree (CD), glass transition temperature (Tg), and color values of DS powders were studied. The sorption isotherms were also obtained and compared to that of those predicted by mathematical models. According to the results, increasing the AG concentration enhanced the moisture content,
, brightness, and Tg while it reduced the CD and equilibrium moisture sorption. All DS powders had type III isotherm behavior, i.e., similar to high-sugar foods. Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer (GAB) and Peleg models were found to be suitable for fitting the experimental data and these models explained the monolayer moisture content decrease with increasing AG concentration. These results of the present study, for the first time, verified that the AG can be used as a natural anti-plasticizer agent for DS powder production.