Comparison of sugar beet pectin, soybean soluble polysaccharide, and gum arabic as food emulsifiers. 1. Effect of concentration, pH, and salts on the emulsifying properties

The present study compares the emulsifying properties of sugar beet pectin (SBP), soybean soluble polysaccharide (SSPS), and gum arabic (GA) in oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. Emulsifying properties of each hydrocolloid were evaluated in terms of the emulsion droplet-size distribution, adsorption behavior at the oil–water interface, and the zeta potential. The standard emulsion contained 15 w/w% medium-chain triglyceride as the oil source and was processed with two passes through a high-pressure homogenizer at 50 MPa. The surface-volume mean diameter d3,2 of the emulsions (pH 3.0) was equilibrated at <1.0 μm when the concentration of each hydrocolloid was equal to or higher than 1.5%, 4.0%, and 10.0% for SBP, SSPS, and GA, respectively, where the apparent shear viscosities of the emulsions at 10 s−1 were almost equivalent (30–35 mPa s). At these critical concentrations, the interfacial concentration of each hydrocolloid was in the order: SBP