Abstract
The weakness of aqueous polysaccharide gels prepared from jelly fig was investigated. The following results were obtained.
Molecular weight distribution of aqueous polysaccharide solution prepared from jelly fig was measured by using gel permeation chromatography. The peak of molecular weight distribution of the solution shifted to low molecular weight side with increasing the storage time. Aqueous polysaccharide of jelly fig showed the wide distribution of molecular weight. The liberated methanol contents increased and the reducing sugar contents in the solution increased by the increase of storage time. Observation of jelly fig gels by cryo-scanning electron microscope showed that network structure of gels stored for a long time seemed to be looser than those of gels stored for a short time. The melting temperature of jelly fig gels shifted to higher temperatures with the increase in the concentration of aqueous polysaccharide. The syneresis of jelly fig gels after freezing-thawing was extremely higher compared with low methoxyl pectin gels.
