The effects of konjac gum, fat content and homogenization pressure on rheological properties of low fat cream

In this research, the effects of Konjac gum (0.2-0.6%), Fat content (18-25%) and Homogenization pressure (100-200 bar) on rheological properties of low fat cream were investigated. The results of the back extrusion test indicated that increasing konjac gum, fat content and homogenization pressure, significantly increased hardness, consistency and adhesiveness. The simultaneous increasing of homogenization pressure and fat content also led to increasing adhesiveness of the samples, which showed their synergistic effect of them on the adhesiveness. The results of the steady shear test showed that the flow behavior index (n) of all samples was less than one which indicates a shear thinning behavior (pseudoplastic) of all samples. Also increasing fat content, significantly decreased the flow behavior index of the samples and increased the consistency. konjac gum and homogenization pressure had no significant effect on the flow behavior. The optimum processing conditions for producing low fat cream with the high hardness, consistency, consistency coefficient and low flow behavior index for response variables were 146/51 bar homogenization pressure،18/01% Fat content and 0.59% konjac gum.