Soups and sauces are convenient, ready-to-eat meals which are ideal for people with a busy lifestyle. Their texture becomes the major feature that enhances the food sensory and eating experience².

Rice Starch and Rice Flour as Thickener

Starch can be used in soups and sauces to control their uniformity and stability⁷. Rice starch is a suitable ingredient for improving texture for low viscosity food items⁴. The unique structure of amylopectin gives rice starch exceptional shelf-life stability, while amylose and its small granule size make it an ideal additive when it comes to creating soups and sauces with soft and creamy texture¹⁰.

Rice flour is also suitable to be used in soups and sauces as a thickener and a water-binding agent to improve mouthfeel, as well as add smoothness and sheen to the appearance^9,11. Due to its unique gelatinisation properties and binding capacity, it can retain water during the cooking process to improve the shelf-life as well as deliver the desired texture⁵.

Emulsifier and Stabilizer Systems

Texture is an important food attribute for consumers. Therefore, stabilisers are used in sauces to achieve improvement in viscosity, water holding capacity, and colour without any creaming or layer separation¹. An emulsifier is used in soups to improve quality by reducing fat content without sacrificing the flavour⁸. Sauces for frozen meals are physically and chemically stable because of the addition of emulsifiers during processing. Thus, giving the emulsion-based sauces a longer shelf-life and acceptable sensory attributes³.

Meeting the needs!

In a nutshell, texture plays an important role in high quality products for consumer to enjoy the food. Therefore, by choosing the right ingredients, food manufacturers can create soups and sauces with the desired texture and excellent mouthfeel.

At DPO, we are honoured to be in partnership with Palsgaard and Beneo to bring you a range of ingredient choices that could elevate your quality of life.

References

¹Cheenkaew, Y., Panpipat, W., & Chaijan, M. (2020). Southern-style Pad Thai sauce: From traditional culinary treat to convenience food in retortable pouches. PLoS ONE, 15(5): e0233391. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233391 

²Dar, Y. L. & Light, J. M. (2014). Food Texture Design and Optimization. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

³Degner, B. M., Chung, C., Schlegel, V., Hutkins, R., & McClements, D. J. (2014). Factors influencing the freeze-thaw stability of emulsion-based foods. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 13(2), 98–113. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12050  

⁴Krongworakul, N., & Naivikul, O. (2019). Physicochemal properties of rice starch during microwave heating for food product quality. Journal of Nutrition Science Vitaminol, 65, S163-S165.

⁵Pereira, J., Zhou, G. , & Zhang, W. (2016). Effects of rice flour on emulsion stability, organoleptic characteristics and thermal rheology of emulsified sausage. Journal of Food and Nutrition Research, 4(4), 216-222. https://doi.org/10.12691/jfnr-4-4-4

⁶Qin, Y., Liu, C., Jiang, S., Cao, J., Xiong, L., & Sun, Q. (2016). Functional properties of glutinous rice flour by dry-heat treatment. PLOS ONE Journal, 11(8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160371  

⁷Santana, Á. L., & Meireles, M. A. A. (2014). New Starches are the Trend for Industry Applications: A Review. Food and Public Health, 4(5), 229–241. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.fph.20140405.04

⁸Triyannanto, E., & Lee, K. T. (2014). Effects of emulsifiers, precooking and washing treatments on the quality of retorted ginseng chicken soup. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, 39(6), 1770–1777. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpp.12409

⁹Varivoda, A., Kenijz, N., Belugin, N. & Belugin, Y. (2020). Prospects of using rice cereals and flour in the production of canned products of long storage. International Transaction Journal of Engineering, Management, & Applied Sciences & Technologies, 11(8), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.14456/ITJEMAST.2020.144

¹⁰Wani, A. A., Singh, P., Shah, M. A., Schweiggert-Weisz, U., Gul, K. & Wani, I. A. (2012). Rice starch diversity: Effects on structural, morphological, thermal, and physicochemical properties – a review. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 11(5), 417-436.

¹¹Yazid, N. S. M., Abdullah, N., Muhammad, N., & Matias-Peralta, H. M. (2018). Application of starch and starch-based products in food industry. Journal of Science and Technology, 10(2), 144-174. https://doi.org/10.30880/jst.2018.10.02.023