Rheological properties of artificial boluses of cereal foods enriched with legume proteins

• Published in: Food hydrocolloids 2022-01, Vol.122, p.107096, Article 107096
• Main Authors: Gibouin, F., van der Sman, R., Benedito, J., Della Valle, G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Food engineering; Herschel-bulkley model; Interaction coefficient; Life Sciences; Modulus; Plant protein; Viscosity
• ISSN: 0268-005X; 1873-7137
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodhyd.2021.107096

The properties of artificial food bolus are studied by dynamic oscillatory and capillary rheometry as functions of bolus water content (WC), in the usual range of saliva hydration, for four cereal products: sponge cake, extruded flat bread and their counterpart enriched in legume proteins. All boluses followed the same rheological behavior characterized by (1) solid -like in the linear viscoelastic domain and (2) Herschel-Bulkley model for large shear strain. Hence, four characteristic rheological properties are determined: modulus at viscoelastic plateau, characteristic stress at transition to flow, yield stress and consistency in the flow regime. The decrease of these properties with WC was fitted by an exponential decay function, from which was extracted a coefficient α (5 = α ≤ 30), defined as a coefficient of interaction of the food with water. The values of α are of the same order of magnitude as the plasticization coefficient of starch by water. They were larger for the extruded pea based (EFP, α ≥ 15), and were lower for the sponge cake (SC, α ≤ 15). The variations for the different rheological properties are discussed in terms of matter state, envisioning bolus as a suspension of soft swellable particles. The comparison of these values with those encountered for real boluses from similar foods suggests that these results contribute to define a coefficient of interaction of food with saliva. Graphical abstract of measuring rheological properties of artificial boluses of cereal foods and determining interaction coefficient. [Display omitted] •Rheological properties of artificial food boluses measured in realistic conditions.•Cereal foods bolus behave like a gel, destructured for characteristic stress value.•A food/water interaction coefficient is derived from stress variations with water.•Cereal foods bolus can be considered as a suspension of soft swollen particles.•For flow properties, interaction coefficient increases when adding protein to food.