Application of Agar Powder in Food

Agar powder is a kind of algin extracted from Agaricus and other red algae plants. Agar powder is composed of agarose and agar pectin. Agar powder has a unique property that is extremely useful in food industry applications. Its characteristics: it has coagulation, stability, and can form complexes with some substances and other physical and chemical properties. It can be used as thickener, coagulant, suspending agent, emulsifier, preservative and stabilizer. Widely used in the manufacture of oranges and various beverages, jelly, ice cream, cakes, soft candy, canned food, meat products, eight-treasure porridge, Tremella bird's nest, soup food, cold food and so on.

As an auxiliary material of meat products, agar powder has the characteristics of improving the quality of meat products and protecting its flavor. Adding agar powder to the horse mackerel surimi gel can increase its strength, and its structure is uniform and dense, so the agar powder can improve the characteristics of the horse mackerel surimi gel. The addition of agar powder can improve the oil retention rate of smoked and boiled sausage, and reduce the water activity and brightness value, but it has no effect on the yield, texture and water retention rate of the sausage. The agar powder has a strong ability to shape canned meat, so that the can can still maintain a stable solidification ability after high temperature sterilization, and can also improve the quality of the can and prevent it from hanging on the wall.

Agar powder is a high molecular polysaccharide substance with galactose as the main component, and it is one of the main excipients of agar fudge. In the candy industry, agar powder mainly relies on its gel characteristics to make soft candy, which has the characteristics of high water content, transparency, softness, elasticity and long shelf life. Under high temperature conditions, agar powder is easily destroyed in an acidic environment, so some scholars use agar powder mixed with other gels to make soft candy, and its quality is better than that of single agar powder.

Agar powder can be used as a suspending agent in beverage production. It has the characteristics of uniform suspension of solids, long time, improved transparency of beverages, increased fluidity, smooth taste and extended shelf life. When the concentration of agar powder is between 0.001% and 0.005%, the fruit particles can be suspended evenly. 0.3% agar powder can improve the viscosity and expansion rate of ice cream, so that the tissue state can be better improved. Agar powder can be used as shortening agent, softener and water-retaining agent in bakery food, and the optimum dosage is 0.1% to 1.0%.

Agar powder has special gelling properties, especially remarkable stability, hysteresis and hysteresis, and it is easy to absorb water and has special stabilizing effect; it has been widely used in food, medicine, chemical industry, textile, national defense and other fields.

Agar powder is widely used in many aspects such as food industry, pharmaceutical industry, daily chemical industry and biological engineering. In addition, agar powder itself is rich in water-soluble dietary fiber, which has health benefits such as detoxification, beauty, blood sugar reduction, and blood lipid lowering, and has become a new favorite in the food market. The development of the agar powder industry has promoted the rapid development of the agar seaweed aquaculture industry, solved a large number of labor employment, and promoted the growth of the rural economy. In addition, algae digest carbon, ammonia, phosphorus, sulfur and other nutrients in seawater through their own photosynthesis, thus maintaining the balance of the marine ecological environment and promoting the cultivation of other economic animals such as shellfish. Therefore, agar has broad prospects for development.