Emerging Natural Hydrocolloids

18 Emerging Technologies for Isolation of Natural Hydrocolloids from Mucilaginous Seeds

Asgar Farahnaky^1,3, Mahsa Majzoobi^2,3 and Shaahin Bakhshizadeh‐Shirazi³

¹ School of Science, RMIT University, Bundoora West Campus, Melbourne, Vic 3083, Australia

² Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute and Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia

³ Depatrment of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

18.1 Introduction

Many mucilaginous seeds around the world have been introduced for use as accessible, cost‐effective, and natural sources of hydrocolloids. These hydrocolloids are used as thickening, gel‐forming, foam‐, and emulsion‐stabilizing agents in a wide range of foods and pharmaceuticals. Due to the strong bonds between the mucilage layers and their hard seed cores, often a severe mechanical stress is required for quick and efficient separation of mucilage layers from their seed cores. The conventional method for isolating/extracting hydrocolloids from mucilaginous seeds includes a hydration process, followed by applying severe mechanical shear stress by high‐speed mixers or with rotating blade stirrers. Therefore, a heterogeneous mixture of crushed seeds and mucilage may be produced. Several stages of time‐consuming and energy‐intensive centrifugation or filtration are required to separate the crushed seeds and impurities, followed by drying and grinding. Application ...