Determining the properties of chia seed meal gel

Abstract

Potential areas of using chia seeds meal as part of mincemeat semi-finished products were substantiated. The modern stage of development of the food industry involves the expansion of the range of natural functional ingredients that improve the organoleptic characteristics of finished products and provide consumers with "healthy" food. This causes the use of new ingredients in the meat processing industry for producing and devising products. The relationship between the indicators of emulsifying capacity, emulsion resistance, and the degree of hydration of chia meal was determined experimentally. It was found that the ability of chia meal to absorb and retain water and fat molecules in the emulsion composition decreased proportionally to a decrease in its concentration in the composition of hydrated samples. The existence of non-polar side chains of amino acids that get bound to fat molecules contributes to an increase in the indicators of emulsifying capacity and emulsion stability during heat treatment (70±2 °C) and after pre-freezing on average by 7–8.7 % and by 16–18.8 %, respectively. Analysis of effective viscosity of the dispersed system of chia seeds meal indicates that in the area of a higher concentration, the viscous-elastic and solid-like behavior of the suspension depends on dynamic changes in the volume of the phase of particles. Heating the experimental samples to a temperature of 70±2 °C in the center leads to a maximum increase in viscosity of the formed dispersions. When studying the effect of the processes of freezing on the properties of the studied systems, the cryoprotective properties for the proposed additives were detected. The obtained data indicate the thermal stabilization of the proposed additive, the ability to form a microgel structure in the finished product, and retain moisture during heat treatment of semi-finished products.