Abstract
The effects of particle gel (PG) on the rheological properties of agar, k-carrageenan and gellan gum gels were investigated. The samples were agar (AMG-CaCl2), k-carrageenan (CMG-CaCl2) and gellan gum (GMG-CaCl2)gels with 5 mM CaCl2 or without salt (AMG, CMG and GMG) to which various amounts of particle gel composed of 1.2% gellan gum and 5 mM CaCl2 (PG-CaCl2) were added. The breaking stress of GMG containing PG-CaCl2, and the storage modulus of CMG containing PG-CaCl2 and of GMG containing PG-CaCl2 increased with increasing PG-CaCl2 content, while these parameters for the other gels containing PG-CaCl2 decreased. PG-CaCl2 behaved as an inactive filler in the non-polar polysaccharide matrix gel without CaCl2 and in all polysaccharide matrix gels with CaCl2.
