Study the Effect of Konjac Gum as a Fat Substitute on the PhysicoChemical, Rheological and Sensory Properties of Low-fat Cream

This study was carried out to determine the effect of using konjac gum as a fat substitute on the physico-chemical, rheological and sensory properties of low-fat cream. For this purpose, different concentrations (0.25, 0.5 and 0.75%) of konjac gum were added to the cream, and the amount of cream fat decreased from 30% to 20%. In this study, moisture, pH, acidity, texture, apparent viscosity, emulsion stability, color evaluation and sensory evaluation were investigated and compared with low fat (with 20% fat and without gum) and high fat (with 30% fat) cream as control samples. The results showed that the replacement of konjac gum significantly caused a decrease in the moisture content, acidity and syneresis amount compared to the low-fat control sample. Texture and apparent viscosity significantly increased with increasing gum, while the sample containing 0.5% konjac was similar to high fat control sample. Also, the results of sensory evaluation showed that panelists did not differentiate between samples containing konjac and high fat control sample. Therefore, it can be concluded that konjac gum at 0.5% can be used as a fat substitute for the preparation of lowfat cream due to its favorable physicochemical properties and acceptable texture and flavor.