Designed food structures based on hydrocolloids

This chapter provides an overview of the fundamentals and technological tools to exploit hydrocolloid technology on a particulate level for influencing food structure. It deals with the design of hydrocolloid food particles on the micrometre scale, corresponding to the size range of droplets in classical food emulsions. The chapter introduces the fundamentals of the phase behaviour of hydrocolloid mixtures and lists some common food hydrocolloid mixtures. It talks about the technology based on solutions of single hydrocolloids known as sheared gel or fluid gel technology. The chapter deals with the application of the principle of flow structuring to hydrocolloid mixtures. Water-in-oil emulsions with a gelling hydrocolloid-based water phase are processed to manufacture shaped food particles. These may be directly applied in lipid-based food products. Finally, the chapter describes microfluidics and high-pressure processing in food particle structuring.