Citrus fibers, known to have high water absorbency when processed to create water holding capacity, have been shown to have many desirable properties in food and personal care products.  However, the mechanism explaining citrus fiber functionality is not well-defined.   The aim of this study was to characterize the rheology of citrus fibers in various conditions and investigate the reasons for these properties.   Citrus fibers show stable properties in a wide variety of pH, temperature, and salt conditions.  Rheological models were proposed for various citrus fiber solutions. A 3% solution of citrus fiber exhibited solid-like properties at low shear with a quantifiable yield stress value and fluid properties with elevated shear.  An additional finding of this study was that pectin plays a significant role in determining the functionality of the citrus fiber products.

Characterization of citrus fiber rheology and physicochemical interactions

244th National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.