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What are the ingredients used and composition of floating gel beads, referring to the reference below?

July 10, 2015
ANSWER

Edible floating gel beads can be produced by using hydrocolloids such as Sodium Alginate, Xanthan Gum, Calcium Alginate, Gellan Gum, Agar and others as gelling agents.

Common Gelling Agent and Stabilizer used in Edible Gel Beads

Components Examples of Ingredients Functions and Mechanisms
Gelling Agent to produce gel beads

 

 Gellan Gum
  • Gellan Gum is combined with water and sugar in liquid to produce a cross linking network.
  • Floating gellan gum beads were prepared using Calcium chloride or Zinc sulphate as a cross-linking agent.
Sodium Alginate
  • The gel beads that are formed by dripping sodium alginate and water into calcium chloride are held together by cross-linking.
  • It is most well-known for its use in spherification as a natural gelling agent.
  • It easily disperses, hydrates and gels in any liquid temperature.
Stabilizer for suspensions Xanthan Gum
  • It produces a cross-linking network much like a “spider web” which acts as a net to hold up the spheres so the gel beads stay suspended.
  • Soluble in hot or cold water, stable over a range of pH and temperatures.
Cross linking agent Calcium Chloride
  • Gel beads are formed by dripping a Gelling Agent into this cross-linking agent and are held together by a cross-linking network such as a “spider web”.

(FAO Corporate Document Repository, 1996;  Beristain et al., 2006; Nussinovitch, 2009).

Examples of Making Edible Gel Beads using Gelling Agents and Cross linking Agents

(Mock et al., 2002; Nussinovitch, 2010).

 

References

Beristain, C. I., Cruz-Sosa, F., Lobato-Calleros, C., Pedroza-Islas, R., Rodríguez-Huezo, M. E. & Verde-Calvo, J. R. (2006). Applications Of Soluble Dietary Fibers In Beverages. Revista Mexicana de Ingeniería Química, 5(1), 81-95.

FAO Corporate Document Repository. (1996). Gellan Gum.

Mock, E., Lyman-Holt, A. & Rochefort, S. (2002). The Gel Bead Process: A Journey to Jell-O Land.

Nussinovitch, A. (2009). Plant Gum Exudates of the World: Sources, Distributions, Properties, and Applications. USA: CRC Press.

Nussinovitch, A. (2010). Polymer Macro- and Micro-Gel Beads Fundamentals and Applications. New York: Springer.

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