In recent years, inulin has been widely used in various foods such as dairy products, beverages, flour products and meat products.Milk inulin is an excellent fat replacement and, when mixed thoroughly with water, creates a creamy structure that gives the skim milk a smooth mouth. Second, the addition of inulin may promote the absorption of calcium from dairy products in the body. In yoghurt production, the addition of 6% inulin will reduce milk coagulation and help improve the quality of yoghurt; adding 6% inulin to goat's milk yogurt will improve the product. In addition, the special nutritional function of inulin can be used to produce a variety of functional dairy products, such as the addition of fruit oligosaccharides to unfermented dairy products, which can help solve the problems of middle-aged and older children who tend to get. anger and constipation. The addition of a low dose of inulin to milk can significantly improve the growth and longevity of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium lactis in low fat fermented milk; supplement a certain amount of fruit oligosaccharide foods in the children's diet. Inulin can support the intestinal microflora in the body closer to breastfeeding and is safe and effective.
Flour products Inulin is in the form of a white powder similar to wheat flour with good hydrophilicity and after absorbing water can form a fine and smooth texture. Utilizing these inulin properties can improve pasta processing properties, improve product quality and nutritional value, and optimize the nutritional structure of products. Studies have shown that inulin can increase dough formation time, stabilization time, flour index, tensile strength, tensile ratio and tensile energy and reduce the degree of dough weakening. For example, crunchy biscuits with added inulin have a Christian texture, a uniform structure and a golden color, and their digestibility in the cup is lower than that of conventional biscuits. By adding inulin, it is also possible to increase the porosity, volume and specific volume of the bread, shorten the baking time and delay the aging of the bread.
Meat products In meat products, inulin is often used as a substitute for oils or starches to reduce the energy of the product, increase the fiber content and improve the nutritional function of the product. Inulin partially replaces sausage fat, which increases its hardness, cohesiveness and recovery to some extent and reduces its elasticity, chewability and cohesiveness; add 20% inulin to the beef balls so that you can get fat and trans- The content of fatty acids, moisture, salt, variable values of cooking losses and redness, while increasing the value of gloss and ash content; 0.2% -3.0% inulin was used to replace the fat in the sausage, the fat content in the sausage was reduced, the juice was improved, and the roughness and firmness of the meat were reduced. Inulin can also be used as a cryoprotectant for fish and meat products. Short-chain inulin has the best frost protection effect, followed by natural inulin.
Beverage Inulin is easily soluble in water and is relatively stable to heat when the pH of the solution is higher than 4, so it can be widely used in various beverages. By adding inulin to fruit juice drinks, functional drinks, sports drinks, solid drinks, plant protein drinks and other products, it can not only replace fat and sugar, improve the water's ability to bind water and increase viscosity, but also deliver. high fiber product. content, improves the absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron and other minerals and masks its hot taste. The addition of inulin can increase the consistency of the beverage, solve the problem of the thin taste of herbal protein beverages and make the taste more creamy and softer, with a stronger taste and a better texture. Inulin supports the absorption of calcium by up to 70%, so drinks containing inulin not only have prebiotic functions, but also support growth and prevent osteoporosis.
It should be noted that the degree of polymerization will affect the solubility, water content capacity, swelling, adsorption, crystallinity, gelation, texture properties and processing stability of inulin foods. Therefore, a deep understanding of the different degrees of polymerization is needed. Application benefits and limitations of inulin in various food systems.