The influence of agar gel texture on sucrose release

The relationship between sucrose release and texture of food gels was investigated by rheological measurements. Agar gels were selected as model food gel, and sucrose was used as a sweetener. Large deformation uniaxial compression tests were carried out at different compression speeds. The fracture stress increased with increasing agar concentration, while the concentration dependence of the fracture strain was different at different compression speeds. The size-distribution of fragments obtained after repeated compression-cycles was quantified using image analysis. The number and total surface area of fragments decreased with increasing agar concentration. Increasing the compression speed led to an initial increase followed by a monotonous decrease of both the number of fragments and their total surface area. The gel texture affected in a similar fashion both the sucrose release ratio and the total fragment surface area. The sucrose release ratio decreased with increasing agar concentration.