Evaluation of the Water Binding Properties of Food Hydrocolloids by Physical/Chemical Methods and in a Low Fat Meat Emulsion

The Baumann capillary suction apparatus, the cryoscopic osmometer, and moisture sorption isotherms were used to measure the water‐binding capacity (WBC) of several macromolecular food grade hydrocolloids. Although each method was able to distinguish between ingredients of different WBC's, the values obtained by the three methods were very different from each other. A significant correlation was only found between the osmometer data and the moisture sorption data at a_w= 0.98, while neither method correlated with the WBC as determined by the Baumann method. The Baumann method was found to give the best prediction of a hydrocolloid's relative WBC in a low fat meat emulsion food system when compared to the typical WBC methods used for meats. Xanthan gum was found to be the best gum in retention of added water.