Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 261–265

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Rheological properties of some gums-salep mixed solutions

Ahmed Kayacier *, Mahmut Dogan
Department of Food Engineering, Erciyes University, 38039 Kayseri, Turkey

Received 28 July 2004; accepted 8 December 2004

Available online 16 February 2005

Abstract

Rheological properties of guar, xanthan and alginate solutions prepared with salep addition were investigated. Two salep con-
centrations (0.05 and 0.1%) in addition to control samples (0% salep) were used in solutions with four different concentrations of
gums (0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0%). The highest AV value (8244 mPa s) was observed for alginate solutions among control samples that
contained no salep. Apparent viscosity of samples increased with increasing amount of gum and salep. The power law model was
used to describe the rheological properties of solutions. The flow behavior index of samples was in the range of 0.196–0.971 while
consistency index changed 35.576–3189.9 mPa sn. Analysis of variance results indicated that there was a statistically significant dif-
ference (p < 0.05) among different gums in terms of the synergistic effect. Guar gum particularly at higher concentrations was more
effective in increasing K value of solution suggesting better synergy when used with salep.
Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Rheology; Salep; Xanthan; Alginate; Guar gum

1. Introduction any food for its effect on the textural attributes. The rhe-
ological properties of fluid food should be carefully ta-
Gums are high molecular weight hydrophilic biopoly- ken into account for designing and modeling purposes.
mers and widely used in food industry to control func- Furthermore, the rheology is critically important for
tional properties of food products. The most products like hot salep drink and hot chocolate in which
important properties of a solution made from a gum the rheological property is considered as an indicator of
are water binding and viscosity in terms of gelling and the product quality. Calculations in the processes
thickening. In addition to those functions, they are also involving fluid flows such as pump sizing, extraction
used in food formulations for emulsion stabilization, or filtration requires a knowledge of rheological data
prevention of ice recrystallization and sensory attri- and the rheology of a product is necessary for the
butes. There are many types of gums which are of analysis of flow conditions in various food processes
plants, seaweeds, microbial or synthetic origin, available (Marcotte, Hoshahili, & Ramaswamy, 2001). Many
in the market. They are also obtained by chemical or factors including the concentration of gums, tempera-
enzymatic treatment of starch or cellulose (Dickinson, ture, dissolution, electrical charge, previous thermal
2003). and mechanical treatments and presence of electrolytes
The rheological properties of gums are particularly may affect the rheology of a fluid food containing gums
important when they are used in the formulation of (Marcotte, Taherian, Trigui, & Ramaswamy, 2001; Rao
& Anantheswaran, 1982; Rao & Kenny, 1975). Gum
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 352 4374937; fax: +90 352
solutions are generally non-Newtonian pseudoplastic
4375784. fluids as the apparent viscosity decreases with increasing
E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Kayacier). shear rate, therefore they exhibit a shear-thinning

0260-8774/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2004.12.005
262 A. Kayacier, M. Dogan / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 261–265

behavior. Several models have been used to characterize 2. Materials and method
the flow behavior of gum solutions and among them
power law model has been frequently used for the deter- Salep, guar, alginate and xanthan were obtained from
mination of rheological properties of the fluid food. In a firm manufacturing instant beverage in Kayseri,
addition, Casson or Tscheuschner Models have been Turkey. Experimental design was formed as follows.
also used for the characterization of fluid foods such Each solution contained salep and one of the three
as hot chocolate. gums, guar, xanthan or alginate. Two salep concentra-
Salep is a food ingredient obtained by milling dried tions (0.05 and 0.1%) in addition to control samples
tubers of wild orchids (Kaya & Tekin, 2001) and used (0% salep) were used in solutions. Additionally to ana-
as an essential ingredient for the production of hot lyze the effect of hydrocolloid concentration on the
salep drink and ice-cream in Turkey. It primarily con- rheological characteristics of mixed solutions, four dif-
tains glucomannose and starch in its structure in addi- ferent concentrations (0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00%) were
tion to water and mineral matters (Tekinsen & used. After separately weighing, a gum and salep were
Karacabey, 1984). Besides giving the desired aroma dry blended and dissolved in deionised water under vig-
and flavor to the product, it also serves as a thicken- orous agitation for 2 h which resulted clear solution with
ing and stabilizing agent when added into formula- no indication of undissolved solid particle. Table 1 illus-
tion. It has a considerably high thickening ability trates 36 different samples containing various salep and
when incorporated into solution. Additionally, gluco- gum concentrations.
mannose in salep functionally helps the stabilization The apparent viscosity of solutions was measured at
of ice-cream (Tekinsen, 1996). The addition of salep 25 °C using J.P. Selecta, s.a. Brand Viscometer (Visco-
into ice-cream increases the viscosity of mix resulting star-R, ST-TEMP, Spain). Appropriate spindles (from
in higher product quality (Cotrell, Geoffrey, & Philips,
1980; Kaya & Tekin, 2001). Guar, xanthan and algi- Table 1
nate are used very commonly in different food formu- Samples of gum mixtures
lations as stabilizing agent or thickener. Sample Salep concentration Gum Gum concentration
The use of two or more gums in the formulation of
1 0 Guar 0.25
a single food is a common practice in the industry for 2 0 Guar 0.50
the synergistic effect of the combining use. Product 3 0 Guar 0.75
quality could be improved by synergism of gums 4 0 Guar 1
and economical benefit may be gained from the use 5 0.05 Guar 0.25
6 0.05 Guar 0.50
of mixed gums as they can impart better rheological
7 0.05 Guar 0.75
properties to the product which may also bring about 8 0.05 Guar 1
cost reduction during manufacturing (Walkenström, 9 0.1 Guar 0.25
Kidman, Hermansson, Rasmussen, & Hoegh, 2003). 10 0.1 Guar 0.50
Synergistic interactions between gums were studied 11 0.1 Guar 0.75
12 0.1 Guar 1
by several researchers. Investigators generally focused
13 0 Xanthan 0.25
on the rheological characteristics of mixed gels, for 14 0 Xanthan 0.50
example, Walkenström et al. (2003), investigated rheo- 15 0 Xanthan 0.75
logical behavior of alginate and pectin mixed gels. 16 0 Xanthan 1
Dunstan et al. (2001); Lundin and Hermansson 17 0.05 Xanthan 0.25
18 0.05 Xanthan 0.50
(1997); Arnaud, Choplin, and Lacrox (1989); Stading
19 0.05 Xanthan 0.75
and Hermansson (1993) determined the rheological 20 0.05 Xanthan 1
properties of j-carrageenan and locust bean gum 21 0.1 Xanthan 0.25
mixed gels. On the other hand, the synergy of gums 22 0.1 Xanthan 0.50
in solutions received less attention. Lee et al. (2003) 23 0.1 Xanthan 0.75
24 0.1 Xanthan 1
studied the flow behavior of gellan/gelatin mixed
25 0 Alginate 0.25
solution. 26 0 Alginate 0.50
Salep would not be considered as a well known thick- 27 0 Alginate 0.75
ening agent, therefore the research on the salep is very 28 0 Alginate 1
limited and no information was come across in the liter- 29 0.05 Alginate 0.25
30 0.05 Alginate 0.50
ature about the rheology solutions of salep and other
31 0.05 Alginate 0.75
gum mixed. The objectives of this study were to deter- 32 0.05 Alginate 1
mine the rheological properties of salep/gum mixed solu- 33 0.1 Alginate 0.25
tion by using power law model and to investigate the 34 0.1 Alginate 0.50
synergism between two compounds with respect to 35 0.1 Alginate 0.75
36 0.1 Alginate 1
rheology of the solution.
 A. Kayacier, M. Dogan / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 261–265 263

L1 to L4) were used during viscosity measurement Salep Conc. = 0

5000
according to the apparent viscosity range of solution. Gum Concentration

Apparent Viscosity (mPa.s)

Viscometer readings were recorded at six different 4000 0.25
0.5
speeds (10, 20, 30, 50, 60, 100, 200 rev/min). The data 0.75
3000 1
were collected in triplicate.
All statistical calculations were completed using the 2000
SAS system (SAS, 1988). Analysis of variance (ANO-
VA) was carried out using the general linear model 1000

(glm) procedure and Duncan test was used to determine 0

the differences among means. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Speed (rps)
2.5 3 3.5

Salep Conc. = 0.05

5000
3. Results and discussion Gum Concentration

Apparent Viscosity (mPa.s)

0.25
4000 0.5

Figs. 1–3 show the apparent viscosity (AV) values 0.75

1
3000
of solutions prepared with salep and guar, xanthan
and alginate, respectively. The highest AV value 2000
(8244 mPa s) was observed for alginate solutions among
1000
control samples that contained no salep. The AV of
solutions increased with increasing gum concentration 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Speed (rps)

Salep Conc. = 0
12000 Salep Conc. = 0.1
5000
Gum Concentration
Apparent Viscosity (mPa.s)

Apparent Viscosity (mPa.s)

Gum Concentration
10000 0.25
0.5 0.25
0.75
4000
0.5
8000 1
0.75
3000 1
6000

2000
4000

2000 1000

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Speed (rps) Speed (rps)

Salep Conc. = 0.05 Fig. 2. Apparent viscosity values of solutions prepared with salep and
12000
Gum Concentration xanthan gum.
Apparent Viscosity (mPa.s)

10000 0.25
0.5
0.75
8000 1
as expected. All solutions showed a non-Newtonian flow
6000 in which AV changed with shear rate. AV values of sam-
4000 ple solutions decreased with increasing shear rate, thus
2000
solutions exhibited a shear thinning behavior. The
addition of salep caused an increase in the AV values
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 of the solution; for example, the sample with 1% guar
Speed (rps) gum had an AV value of 7358 mPa s if there was no
Salep Conc. = 0.1% salep addition, it increased to 8682 mPa s for 0.05%
12000
Gum Concentration and 10754 mPa s for 0.1% salep addition. Similar trends
Apparent Viscosity (mPa.s)

10000 0.25
0.5
were observed for other gums used.
0.75
8000 1 The power law model was used to describe the rheo-
logical properties of solutions. The flow behavior index
6000
(n) and consistency index (K) values were obtained by
4000 fitting the rotational speed versus apparent viscosity
2000
values to the power law model.
0 ga ¼ Kcðn
1Þ
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Speed (rps)
where ga is the apparent viscosity (Pa s), K (Pa sn) is the
Fig. 1. Apparent viscosity values of solutions prepared with salep and consistency index, c is the rotational speed (s
1) and n
guar gum. (dimensionless) is flow behavior index.
264 A. Kayacier, M. Dogan / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 261–265

Table 2
Salep Conc.= 0
12000 Rheological parameters of salep solutions prepared with different gums
Apparent Viscosity (mPa.s)

Gum Concentration
10000 0.25 Salep concentration Gum concentration n K R2
0.5
0.75 Guar
8000 1
0 0.25 0.971 35.576 0.567
6000 0 0.50 0.603 258.06 0.965
0 0.75 0.485 925.70 0.975
4000
0 1.00 0.319 2283.2 0.995
2000 0.05 0.25 0.932 46.194 0.839
0.05 0.50 0.610 342.40 0.954
0 0.05 0.75 0.436 1267.5 0.987
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Speed (rps) 0.05 1.00 0.308 2634.1 0.995
0.10 0.25 0.794 72.038 0.855
Salep Conc. = 0.05 0.10 0.50 0.570 431.64 0.976
12000
Gum Concentration 0.10 0.75 0.416 1401.2 0.988
Apparent Viscosity (mPa.s)

10000 0.25 0.10 1.00 0.287 3189.9 0.995

0.5
8000
0.75 Xanthan
1
0 0.25 0.383 239.18 0.997
6000 0 0.50 0.333 480.93 0.999
4000
0 0.75 0.296 696.74 1.000
0 1.00 0.310 904.18 1.000
2000 0.05 0.25 0.377 327.06 0.996
0.05 0.50 0.353 597.26 0.998
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0.05 0.75 0.338 899.83 0.999
Speed (rps)
0.05 1.00 0.337 1184.3 0.999
0.10 0.25 0.379 458.55 0.999
Salep Conc. = 0.1
0.10 0.50 0.391 673.35 0.993
12000
Gum Concentration 0.10 0.75 0.349 858.28 0.999
Apparent Viscosity (mPa.s)

10000 0.25 0.10 1.00 0.422 976.38 0.999

0.5
0.75 Alginate
8000
1
0 0.25 0.437 322.75 0.998
6000
0 0.50 0.400 598.80 0.997
4000 0 0.75 0.301 1241.9 0.999
0 1.00 0.266 1827.3 1.000
2000 0.05 0.25 0.449 338.28 0.998
0
0.05 0.50 0.398 665.48 0.992
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0.05 0.75 0.279 1434.3 0.999
Speed (rps)
0.05 1.00 0.256 1925.8 1.000
Fig. 3. Apparent viscosity values of solutions prepared with salep and 0.10 0.25 0.508 390.87 0.998
alginate. 0.10 0.50 NA NA NA
0.10 0.75 0.322 1150.3 0.996
0.10 1.00 0.196 2665.2 1.000

Consistency index and flow behavior index of samples

were shown in Table 2. As it was seen in the table, K
increased with increasing gum concentration. It was ob- which were obtained by dividing K value of sample to
served for the control samples that the increase in K with the K value of its counterparts with no salep. The divi-
respect to gum concentration was more prominent for sion denoted the synergistic effect of combining use of
guar gum compared to xanthan and alginate solutions. salep and the gum. ANOVA results from the data re-
K value increased from 35.576 mPa sn to 2283.2 mPa sn vealed that there was a statistically significant difference
when gum concentration rises from 0.25% to 1% for guar (p < 0.05) among different gums in terms of synergistic
gum solutions, while it increased from 239.2 to 904.2; and effect. Multiple comparisons indicated that the synergis-
322.75 to 1822.7 mPa sn for xanthan and alginate solu- tic effect of alginate in terms of enhancing consistency of
tions in the same range. Addition of salep to gum solu- solution was higher compared to xanthan and guar
tions generally caused an increase in consistency index. gums. Further statistical analysis was completed to ana-
It was observed that consistency index of any solution lyze the synergistic effect of different gum at each con-
containing salep was higher compared to those of coun- centration and it was determined that there was a
terparts containing no salep. significant difference (p < 0.05) among different gums
One of the objectives of this study was to demon- for 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75% gum, while the difference was
strate the synergy of salep and a gum blend in terms not significant for 1% gum concentration. ANOVA re-
of rheological behavior of the solution. For this pur- sults also showed that the effect of different gum type
pose, a statistical analysis was performed for the data was more noticeable at 0.75% with relatively higher F
 A. Kayacier, M. Dogan / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 261–265 265

Table 3 Acknowledgements
ANOVA table for the effect of different gum types on the consistency
indexa
The authors wish to thank the Erciyes University Sci-
Source Degree of Sum of Mean F value Pr > F entific Research Project Unit.
freedom squares square
GC = 0.25 2 1.27 0.64 6.21 0.005
GC = 0.50 2 0.40 0.20 5.93 0.007
GC = 0.75 2 1.55 0.77 42.9 < 0.0001 References
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