An integrated study towards understanding the functionalization, texturizing potential and storage stability of cell wall material

Cell walls of fruits and vegetables contain valuable polysaccharides that can be used as texturizers in the food industry. Recent work at our research group showed a novel approach for creating cell wall fractions with strong thickening properties by selectively removing specific biopolymers in combination with mechanical processing. Building further upon these highly promising results, next steps will be taken, by introducing advanced microscopic techniques, among others, to gain fundamental insight into the generic nature and the mechanistic understanding of this approach. Furthermore, fundamental knowledge is also required on the physical stability of the functionalized cell wall material during long-term storage in dried state, as changes in texturizing capacity might occur under certain storage conditions. Therefore, the current project aims to gain fundamental understanding of the storage stability of the functionalized cell wall fractions, by an in-depth study of physical state diagrams. A highly novel approach is proposed to develop comprehensive state diagrams, and relate these to changes in texturizing capacity at specific storage conditions. This integrated approach will lead to a fundamental understanding of functionality and storage stability of novel plant-based food texturizers, using innovative approaches that will highly impact various research fields.