Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications 2 (2021) 100162

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Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications

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carbohydrate-polymer-technologies-and-applications

Influence of gelatin/guar gum mixture on the rheological and textural

properties of restructured ricotta cheese
Mohammad Ali Hesarinejad a, Jose M. Lorenzo b, c, Ali Rafe a, *
a
Department of Food Processing, Research Institute of Food Science and Technology (RIFST), PO Box 91735-147, Mashhad, Iran
b
Centro Tecnológico de la Carne de Galicia, Avda. Galicia n◦ 4, Parque Tecnológico de Galicia, San Cibrao das Viñas, Ourense 32900, Spain
c
Área de Tecnología de los Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias de Ourense, Universidad de Vigo, Ourense 32004, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In order to get insights on the effect of temperature (25-60 ◦ C) and selected hydrocolloids (gelatin and guar gum)
Gelatin on the ricotta cheese, the physicochemical, appearance, textural, and rheological properties of this dairy product
Guar gum were studied. The chemical properties influenced on the textural and rheological properties, in which the lower
Restructured
value of cohesiveness attributed to the low fat/protein ratio in ricotta cheese. Increasing the temperature from 25
Gel
Elasticity
to 60◦ C, the elastic, viscous, and complex moduli were decreased, which is the against of the rheological
properties of heat-sensitive cheeses. Gelatin/guar gum inclusion to the ricotta cheese did not increase the
structural strength (G’), and the utmost G’ was obtained in lack of carbohydrates. Although, the highest fracture/
yield stress was obtained for gelatin 4%-guar gum 1%, the high elastic modulus was achieved at gelatin 5%-guar
gum 0.5%. Mechanical spectra of the ricotta gels elucidated shear-thinning behavior with a highly inter­
connected elastic gel structure (G’>G", n ~ 0.20). Consequently, it can be ascribed the elastic modulus lonely is
insufficient to characterize gel systems without obtaining yield and fracture properties. The findings confirmed
that the gelatin/guar gum inclusion did not develop a strong ricotta gel.

Introduction extent related to pH, ionic strength, calcium-binding, and covalent

Ricotta cheese is widely used for stuffing baked in Italian dairy foods.
It can be produced from cheese whey by coagulating proteins through
heating and acidifying to a pH of about 5.0 with citric, lactic or acetic
acid (Rubel, Iraporda, Gallo, Manrique & Genovese, 2019; Di Pierro,
Sorrentino, Mariniello, Giosafatto, & Porta, 2011; Modler & Emmons,
2001; Pizzillo, Claps, Cifuni, Fedele, & Rubino, 2005). The coagulated
curd mass floating on the surface is scooped off and placed in perforated
trays for drainage (Modler & Emmons, 2001). Due to the high moisture,
ricotta cheese is highly susceptible to microbial spoilage and has a
limited shelf life (Martins, Cerquira, Souza, Avides & Vicente, 2010).
Ricotta cheese also has a compact mass, granular texture and a uniform
yellowish-white colour (Pintado, Macedo & Malcata, 2001). However,
the appearance of ricotta may result in limited organoleptic accept­
ability by consumers. The matrix of ricotta is a gel-like structure
composed of whey proteins (mainly α-lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin).
This interconnected molecular network retains fat and water, and con­
fers elasticity and rigidity to the system (Luyten, Vliet, & Wlastra, 1991;
Stading & Hermansson, 1991). The strength of interactions is to some
bonds via disulfide bridges between whey proteins and casein that
prevail in acid heat coagulated cheese (Lucey, Johnson, & Horne, 2003;
Corredig & Dalgleich, 1999).
Rheology of ricotta cheese may not be evaluated by some conven­
tional methods like coaxial viscometry (Couette, cone and plate or
parallel plates) due to the potential structural disruption and slippage.
However, several techniques such as application of a notched sensor and
adhesive cyanoacrylate ester have been proposed to reduce the slippage
problem (Yun, Hsieh, Barbano, & Rohn 1994; Tunick et al., 1990;
Sutheerawattananonda & Bastian, 1998), but none of them can prevent
the structural disruption caused when the specimen is inserted into the
viscometer. To reduce the impact of both problems, lubricated
squeezing flow (LSF) viscometry can be applied. The method has been
used for dairy products as well as other foods (Chatraeir, Macosco &
Winter 1981; Ramirez-wong, Sweat, Torres & Rooney 1996; Suwonsi­
chon & Peleg, 1999). However, a product like as ricotta cheese can be
formed in a shallow container and then tested practically intact. The
imperfect squeezing-flow method enables the evaluation of rheological
properties of the cheese without causing structural damage and at

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: a.rafe@rifst.ac.ir (A. Rafe).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carpta.2021.100162
Received 13 January 2021; Received in revised form 16 September 2021; Accepted 18 September 2021
Available online 21 September 2021
2666-8939/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
M.A. Hesarinejad et al.
relatively low cost. It was observed that ricotta cheeses had significant
yield stress at the time of the experiments (3 min) (Suwonsichon &
Peleg, 1999).
Although rheological measurements such as uniaxial compression
and stress relaxation have been used to characterize the changes of
different cheeses such as ricotta (Rubel et al. 2019; Del Nobile et al.,
2007), information about the dynamic rheological properties of ricotta
cheese is limited, to the best of our knowledge. On the other side, hy­
drocolloids can modify the rheology of ricotta and improve its sensory
properties, so they can contribute to an increase in the desirable char­
acteristics (Marcotte, Hoshahili & Ramaswamy, 2001).Therefore, the
objective of the current study was to get insight on the textural and
rheological properties of ricotta cheese affected by adding gelatin and
guar gum as selected hydrocolloids to improve its texture. Furthermore,
the temperature ranges from 25 to 60◦ C was utilized to characterize the
behavior of ricotta at ambient and processing temperatures, which occur
during manufacturing, transport and/or on the customer table.
Materials and methods
Materials
Cheese whey for ricotta cheese making was obtained from Mozza­
rella cheese from a local dairy industry (Padratoos, Mashhad, Iran).
Guar gum (Mw= 1.45 × 106 Da, low viscosity, Lot No: 063M8129V, St.
Louis, Mo., USA) and gelatin were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. Citric
acid and sodium chloride were also obtained from Merck.
Restructured ricotta cheese preparation
Briefly, the pH of cheese whey was set to 6.7 by using 2 N NaOH
solution, then it was heated on a magnetic stirrer to 85 ◦ C and 1% w/v
sodium chloride was added to the mixture. The citric acid solution
(0.5%, w/v) was incorporated at the ratio 1:10 of cheese whey. After 2
min, the agitation was stopped, and the coagulated protein was molded
and placed on perforated trays in refrigerator at 4 ◦ C for 18 h.
According to our preliminary experiments and some factors such as
processing, solubility, moisture absorption capacity, viscosity and stor­
age of product as well as compatibility with milk proteins, gelatin and
guar gum were selected in this study. Gelatin behaves as a gelling agent
and guar gum was used as thickener in the system. Since the gelatin
could not produce gel by no more than 4% and the minimum guar gum
0.5% can be effective on the gelling system, the ricotta cheese was
incorporated with gelatin as a gelling agent at 4 and 5% and guar gum as
a thickener at 0.5 and 1% after the coagulation of proteins and molded
and placed on perforated trays at 4 ◦ C for about 18 h. It is important to
mention that the combined highest amounts of gelatin (>5%) and guar
gum (>1%) developed a very hard gel in ricotta cheese and could not be
used. In order to obtain the proper molecular rearrangement, improve
taste and shelf life; the incorporated ricotta cheese with hydrocolloids
was kept in 1% citric acid solution for at least 1 day.
Physicochemical properties
The physicochemical properties of ricotta cheese without hydrocol­
loids including protein, fat, moisture, pH, acidity, ash and carbohydrate
were carried out based on the methods of the Association of Official
Analytical Chemist Society (AOAC 1995). The carbohydrate content was
calculated by subtracting the amount of other components from 100.The
experiments for physicochemical properties of ricotta were carried out
in triplicates.
Appearance attribute
The color of the ricotta cheese’s surface was measured by a color­
imeter (Konica Minolta, CR-410, Japan). Image acquisition and
2
Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications 2 (2021) 100162
processing of ricotta cheese were performed based on our previous
studies (Abdollahi Moghaddam, Rafe, & Taghizadeh, 2015; Rafe,
Sadeghian & Hoseini-Yazdi, 2017). In Brief, the images were captured
by a color digital camera (Canon EOS 1000D, Taiwan) with resolution
(2272 × 1704 pixels) in a wooden black box, and they were saved on a
computer with software (Canon Utilities Zoom Browser EX version
6.1.1) in JPEG format. The image processing was completed by the
Image J software (National Institutes Health, Bethesda, MD) after
improving the image quality. Then, RGB images were converted into
L*a*b* units in which L*, a*, and b*are lightness (from black to white (0
to 100)), red-green index (from +60 to -60) and yellow-blue index (from
+60 to -60), respectively. The total color change (ΔE) was also deter­
mined by the following equation:
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
( ∗ )2 ( )2
ΔE = L2 − L∗1 + (a∗2 − a∗1 )2 + b∗2 − b∗1 (1)
where subscribes 1 and 2 are before and after hydrocolloid addition,
respectively.
Textural properties of ricotta cheese
Textural properties of cheese were defined as follows: hardness is the
amount of force required for compression (N); cohesiveness is the ratio
between the force and time in the areas of two compressions (dimen­
sionless); elasticity is the recovery measure after the first compression
(dimensionless); gumminess is the product of cohesiveness by hardness
(N), and chewiness is the product of gumminess by elasticity (N)
(Tunick, Van Hekken, Iandola & Tomasula, 2012).
After coagulation, Ricotta cheese is formed into a uniform mold with
a dimension of about 20 × 20 mm. Uniaxial single compression exper­
iments were performed at room temperature (23 ± 2 ◦ C) using a Texture
Analyzer with a 50 kg load cell (TA.XT Plus, Stable Micro Systems Ltd.,
Godalming, UK), which was attached to a computer software Stable
Micro Systems (version 6,1,14,0, Godalming, Surrey, UK). Ricotta
samples were compressed with a flat cylinder probe with a 25 mm
diameter. In the textural analysis of ricotta, parameters are set as fol­
lows: Pre-test speed, 2.0 mm.s− 1; Test speed, 0.5 mms− 1; Post-test speed,
10.0 mms− 1; and distance, 50% of the original gel height. Compression
was performed in two cycles and TPA textural attributes that were
selected from the force-time curve. The back extrusion of ricotta cheese
was performed by using a 45 mm disc probe, 40% strain and at test speed
of 2 mms− 1 based on the Suwonischon &Peleg (1998). The trigger force
was set to 3 grams. All of the experiments were performed in three
replicates.
Rheological measurements
Ricotta cheese in presence and lack of hydrocolloids was examined
with a controlled stress/strain rheometer (Physica MCR 300, Anton
Paar, Germany). Parallel plate geometry (PP25-SN23755) with a 1.0
mm gap was applied to monitor the dynamic rheological behavior of
ricotta cheese at room temperature (20 ◦ C) controlled by a Peltier sys­
tem (Viscotherm VT2, Anton Paar). Before each experiment, the samples
were equilibrated for at least 10 min and the excess sample removed.
The rim was covered with a thin layer of paraffin oil to prevent evapo­
ration during the experiments.
Strain sweep test was carried out from 0.1 to 100% deformation at
20 ◦ C and 1 Hz. Then, the linear viscoelastic region (LVR) was deter­
mined where the strain was independent to stress, and G’, G" and tan δ
were, to some extent, constant. Fracture stress and strain were also
manipulated by plotting elastic stress, the product of the elastic modulus
and strain (G′ γ), as a function of increasing strain (Hesarinejad, Koo­
cheki & Razavi 2014, 2015; Hesarinejad et al. 2018; Raei, Rafe & Sha­
hidi 2018; Rafe & Razavi, 2017).
In order to get insight on the network structure and viscoelastic
behavior of ricotta gels, a frequency sweep test was firstly performed on
M.A. Hesarinejad et al. Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications 2 (2021) 100162

ricotta cheese at different temperatures 25, 40, 50 and 60 ◦ C in the LVR

region over a range of 0.1 to 100 Hz. Then, in the presence of gelatin and
guar gum, the same mechanical spectrum was measured to elucidate the
effect of hydrocolloid addition on the ricotta gels. The degree of fre­
quency dependence of the elastic and loss modulus can be considered as
an effect of the viscoelastic nature of gels and was determined by the
power-law model (Ramkumar, Bhattachaya, Menjivar, & Huang, 1996;
Hasanvand & Rafe, 2018; Rezagholi et al., 2019):

(2)
′ ′
G = k ωp

G′′ = k′′ ωq (3)

Fig. 1. The appearance of ricotta cheese (a) and one of its applications in
stuffed olive (b).
where k’ and k’’ (Pa.s) are intercept, ω is frequency (Hz), p and q are the
viscoelastic components of the elastic and loss modulus, respectively.
consumers.

Statistical analysis
All the rheological data were obtained in triplicates and examined by
Rheoplus software (version 3.40 Anton Paar GmbH, Germany). The
rheological graph was also plotted by Sigmaplot (version 8.0; Jandel
Scientific, Corte, Madera, CA, USA). Measurements were carried out in
triplicate and expressed as mean±standard deviation. The results were
statistically analyzed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by
Fisher LSD test to compare multiple means at a significant level α=0.05.
Results and discussion
Physicochemical properties and appearance of ricotta cheese
In order to get insights on the rheological and textural properties of
restructured ricotta cheese, the physicochemical properties of ricotta
cheese, including moisture content (MC), milk solids nonfat (MSNF), fat,
pH, protein, minerals and carbohydrates were determined. The MC and
MSNF of ricotta cheese were 79.21 ± 0.24 and 20.36 ± 0.13, respec­
tively. These MC values were lower than obtained from ricotta cheese
containing hydrocolloids (79.85). Our results agree with a previous
study of hydrocolloids in spreadable ricotta cheese (Rubel et al., 2019).
The pH of cow’s ricotta cheese was 5.45 ± 0.08, which is lower than the
pH of ricotta cheese from goat breed (6.27–6.43) and the pH of ricotta
cheese with hydrocolloids (6.42 ± 0.05) (Pizzillo et al., 2005). The
protein content of ricotta cheese was 13.86 ± 0.23, which is lower than
the protein content of the ricotta cheese of goat’s milk (19.81 to
24.00%). Moreover, the protein content of the ricotta cheese was higher
than that of Italian ricotta cheese (6.31-10.00%) (Cattaneo, Marinoni,
Iametti & Monti, 2013). The mineral content of ricotta cheese was 1.28
± 0.08 which is lower than that of goat ricotta cheese (2.55–3.26%).
Furthermore, the fat content of ricotta cheese (1.95 ± 0.14) was
significantly lower than that of goat ricotta cheese (61–71%). The car­
bohydrate of the ricotta cheese was 3.72 ± 0.02. In overall, compared to
cow and ewe whey cheeses, goat ricotta cheese exhibited higher fat
content (Contarini, Avalli & Povolo 2002). Therefore, it can be found the
cow’s ricotta cheese does not have a similar nutritional value when
compared to other sources of ricotta such as goat milk. However, it can
be used as a high value-added product in preparing other dairy and
non-dairy foods.
The appearance of ricotta cheese is given in Fig. 1. In comparison
with the goat ricotta cheese, it can be found that the lightness (L* value)
of ricotta cheese is lower than that of goat ricotta (94) (Pizzillo et al.,
2005). Furthermore, by adding hydrocolloids to ricotta cheese, L*value
was reduced more (~80), which was similarly obtained for spreadable
ricotta cheese including hydrocolloids (Rubel et al., 2019). Although,
b*value of ricotta cheese was 11 and it was higher than that of goat
ricotta (8). In the viewpoint of Lab color properties and chroma, it was in
agreement with the literature (Souza et al., 2016). The yellowish color of
ricotta cheese can be a vital factor in apparent acceptance for the
Textural properties of ricotta cheese
Textural properties including TPA (Textural profile analysis), pene­
tration and extrusion are given in Table 1. As can be seen in Table 1, the
hardness and cohesiveness of ricotta cow’s cheese were 0.19 N and
11.48, respectively, which were lower than the hardness (3.10–4.04 N)
and cohesiveness (33–46) of goat ricotta cheese (Pizzillo et al., 2005).
The authors have found that the adhesiveness of ricotta cheese was
affected by breed, but hardness and color properties were not influ­
enced. The lower value of cohesiveness in ricotta cheese can be attrib­
uted to the low fat/protein ratio (0.14), wherein the fat/protein ratio is
about 3 in goat ricotta cheese (Pizzillo et al., 2005).
The springiness in TPA, penetration test and back extrusion of ricotta
cheese without hydrocolloid addition were 19.27, 0.87 and 122 mm,
respectively. These values were more than that of the elasticity of ricotta
in the literature (Borba et al., 2014). The high values of elasticity indi­
cate that there were no changes in the deformability of ricotta cheese
(Ferrandini, López, Castillo & Laencina 2011). The chewiness is in
agreement with the literature in which display values more than 0.90 N
when goat milk and whey were utilized (Borba et al., 2014). However,
chewiness is a secondary attribute and derivative of harness, but it
remained stable. It was also reported higher chewiness value in ricotta
cheese made with mozzarella cheese whey (2.15 N) (Ciabotti, Barcelos,
Cirillo & Pinheiro 2009). According to the TPA results, ricotta cheese
can be considered as a viscoelastic food (Fox Guinee, Cogan &
McSweeney 2000), with a very soft consistency, not pasting and friable,
compressible and not too cohesive, and with brittle characteristic
(Tunick et al., 2012).
Rheological assay
Dynamic rheological experiments of the ricotta cheese and restruc­
tured ricotta cheese at different levels of gelatin and guar gum were
carried out over strain amplitude of 0.01 to 100% in both linear and non-
linear regions at a constant frequency of 1.0 Hz and 20 ◦ C. Strain sweep
measurements of the ricotta cheese shown a strong structure with the
linear viscoelastic region (LVR) which was obtained at 0.76% (Fig. 2a).
In the LVR region, the elastic modulus (G’LVE), viscous modulus (G’’LVE)
and loss tan (tan δ) were 22.9 kPa, 4.2 kPa, and 0.183, respectively.
Since G’ was more than G’’ (G’>G’’) at the entire range of the LVR, it
can be related to the interconnected gel-like network structures with
mainly elastic behavior.
One of the most accurate methods in determining fracture/yield
strain or stress, is plotting the elastic stress, the product of G’ and strain
(G’γ), versus strain (Rafe, Razavi & Farhoosh 2013). However, the
method has been used for particulate and some polysaccharide gels
(Walls, Caines, Sanchez & Khan 2003; Pai & Khan, 2002) to detect the
yield point, which corresponds to the maximum. Therefore, the elastic
stress vs. strain of ricotta cheese in the presence and lack of

3
M.A. Hesarinejad et al.
Table 1
Textural properties of Ricotta cheese incorporated with gelatin and guar gum.
Gelatin (%) Guar gum (%) Color attributes
L* a* b*
0 0 82.41±1.18 -1.32±0.26 11.24±0.63
4 0.5 82.04±0.74 -1.49±0.51 10.31±0.40
4 1.0 80.97±1.13 -1.53±0.36 11.44±0.78
5 0.5 80.88±0.96 -1.56±0.88 11.29±0.53
5 1.0 80.01±1.42 -1.64±0.69 11.34±0.59
hydrocolloids were measured (Fig.2b). It can be found that the fracture
strain and its corresponding fracture stress for ricotta cheese without
hydrocolloids were 32.9% and 150 kPa, respectively. In contrast, the
highest amount of fracture strain (33%) and the fracture stress (250 kPa)
were obtained for ricotta cheese containing 5% gelatin and 1% guar
gum. As a result, increasing the gelatin or guar gum levels, the elasticity
of the system was enhanced. Furthermore, the highest elasticity values
in the restructured ricotta cheese were achieved with 5% gelatin and 1%
guar gum.
The effect of hydrocolloid addition on the rheological properties of
ricotta cheese is provided in Fig. 2c. It can be understood that G’ values
were greater than G’’ values at all levels of hydrocolloids. Hydrocolloid
addition to the ricotta cheese (4% gelatin and 0.5% guar gum) decreased
the fracture strain and its corresponding fracture stress to 27.8% and
134 kPa, respectively. The fracture stress and fracture strain at 4%
gelatin and 0.5% guar gum were close to the ricotta cheese without any
hydrocolloid addition. The fracture strain and the fracture stress
decreased due to hydrocolloids incorporation, which can be attributed
to the effect of water retention in the matrix and improving the resis­
tance to fracture (Fig. 2c). Furthermore, increasing the gelatin and guar
gum concentration increased the elasticity of ricotta cheese. The highest
fracture strain and stress values were obtained at 4% gelatin and 1%
guar gum. This value of fracture stress was higher than flaxseed gum/
rice bran protein, high methoxy pectin, and whey protein complex co­
acervates (Raei et al. 2018; Hasanvand & Rafe, 2018). Moreover, the
fracture stress is higher than marshmallow (9 kPa), dairy foods such as
Monterey cheese (28 kPa) and Cheddar cheese (43 kPa) (Kaletun et al.,
1991).
Mechanical properties
To evaluate the material properties and viscoelastic properties of
ricotta cheese, the frequency sweep measurements were carried out at
various temperatures (25, 40, 50 and 60 ◦ C) at 0.5% strain and fre­
quency range from 0.1 to 100 Hz. The mechanical spectrum of ricotta
cheese in presence and lack of hydrocolloids at different temperatures
are given in Fig. 3. The G’ values were higher than G" values for all the
samples and, therefore, ricotta cheese showed a strong gel behavior due
to its low slope of elastic modulus and low dependence on the frequency
and it can be compared with the whey protein gels. Since, G’ is more
than G’’ and there is no crossover point in the frequency range, it can be
concluded that the ricotta gels have a highly interconnected gel-like
structure (Liu, Winter & Perry 2017).
It was found that increasing temperature from 25 to 60 ◦ C, the
elastic, viscous and complex moduli decreased (Fig. 3a),which is
opposite to the rheological properties of temperature-sensitive cheese
like mozzarella and pizza cheese. This range of temperature was used to
simulate the transition between the ambient temperature and cooking
temperature, which may occur during transport, consumer table and
cooking of the cheese prior to consumption. The complex viscosity did
not show any Newtonian behavior at all the frequency range. However,
the logarithmic complex viscosity (logµ*) decreased linearly with the
frequency (log ω), which demonstrates the shear-thinning phenomenon.
The slope of the curve was measured in all the ricotta samples. The slope
of the curve at temperatures 25, 40, 50, and 60 ◦ C were -0.89, -0.94,
Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications 2 (2021) 100162
Textural properties
Hardness, g Cohesiveness Young modulus Max work, g Springiness, mm
19.48±14.16 34.70±3.82 19.27±2.62 510.37±46.06 0.99±0.01
81.92±4.83 23.18±1.71 14.45±1.15 404.50±36.06 0.99±0.01
94.05±0.48 18.04±3.63 17.65±1.54 529.29±7.21 0.99±0.01
70.03±3.91 15.60±3.68 21.48±1.09 372.76±10.88 0.99±0.01
85.58±3.06 15.22±5.88 24.31±2.57 418.61±2.17 0.99±0.01
-0.98, and -0.93, respectively. According to these findings, the temper­
ature did not display significant effect on the complex viscosity (µ*).
The mechanical properties of ricotta cheese with gelatin and guar
gum at two levels are provided in Fig. 3b. The ricotta cheese showed a
strong gel behavior due to the low slope of elastic modulus and low
dependence on the frequency and it can be compared with the whey
protein gels. In Fig. 3a, it can be understood that hydrocolloid addition
to the ricotta cheese reduced the storage and loss modulus by one order
of magnitude. Therefore, hydrocolloids addition to ricotta cheese had a
significant effect on the rheological properties. Additionally, the domi­
nance of G’ over G" and lack of a crossover point in the frequency region
in Fig. 3a clearly revealed a highly interconnected gel-like structure of
ricotta cheese with hydrocolloid. Although the lowest G’ was obtained
with 4% gelatin and 0.5% guar gum treatment and by increasing gelatin
and guar gum, the low elasticity was also obtained. However, hydro­
colloid insertion to the cheese made it stiffer and more elastic. It is
necessary to mention that the hydrocolloids inclusion in the ricotta
cheese contributed to the water retention through the role of hydroxyl
groups of hydrocolloids in water absorption and therefore, a more
softener and less elastic cheese than control sample was produced. Thus,
the weaker gel structure of ricotta cheese with hydrocolloids might be
related to the moisture content achieved by the secondary effect of the
hydrocolloid in the formula.
At the frequency of 1 Hz, the highest amount of the elastic modulus
was obtained at 5% gelatin-0.5% guar gum (Fig. 3c). There was also not
statistically significant difference in the other ricotta cheese samples
(p<0.05). Therefore, the biggest values of k’ and k’’ were achieved at
5% gelatin and 0.5% guar gum. Similarly, the highest p values were 2.47
for the sample containing 5% gelatin and 0.5% guar gum. Furthermore,
there was not statistically significant difference of p values for other
ricotta cheese samples (1.96, 1.97 and 2.10) (p < 0.05). These findings
explain the high yield stress obtained at 4% gelatin-0.5% guar gum;
where the low frequency dependency could be observed.
The n value is a factor that characterizes the viscoelastic nature of
gels and, to some extent, is related to the strength and structure of the
gel. Indeed, it is situated from 0 for purely elastic or covalent gels to 1 for
a physical gel (Ikeda & Foegeding, 1999). For ricotta cheese, the n values
ranged between 0.12 and 0.17 demonstrating a relatively elastic gel
structure. In comparison, ricotta cheese with 5% gelatin and 1% guar
gum, the n values for the ricotta cheese varied from 0.21 to 0.23, which
indicated a weaker gel structure. Likewise, other studies that confirmed
the weaking behavior of gels (Rafe et al., 2013). Similar findings were
also reported for spreadable ricotta cheese with hydrocolloids such as
gelatin, guar gum and xanthan (Rubel et al., 2019). According to these
findings, in spite of various studies with polysaccharides, it can be found
that incorporating gelatin with other biopolymers (such as guar gum)
does not always increase the gel strength. In some cases, like ricotta
cheese, hydrocolloid inclusion could not increase gel strength or
generate a harder structure and texture. In fact, the use of binary mixture
in the complex food material has indicated different behaviors based on
the properties of ingredients (Shahsavani Mojarrad & Rafe, 2017).
Conclusion
Rheological and textural properties of ricotta cheese at different
4
M.A. Hesarinejad et al.
Fig. 2. Strain sweep of ricotta cheese at frequency of 1.0 Hz and 20 ◦ C: (a) lack
of hydrocolloid (G’, ⬤; G’’, ○; tan δ, △),(b) a comparison of elastic stress of
ricotta cheese with adding different levels of hydrocolloids, (c) restructured
ricotta cheese at different levels of gelatin and guar gum (G’, solid symbols; G’’,
empty symbols).
temperatures and hydrocolloid levels were investigated. The viscoelastic
characteristics of ricotta cheese with 5% gelatin and 1% guar gum
exhibited a shear-thinning (pseudoplastic) behavior due to the inter­
connected gel-like structures. Textural analysis showed that ricotta
cheese can be considered as a viscoelastic food with a very soft consis­
tency, not pasting and friable, compressible and not too cohesive, with
brittle characteristics. Rheological data showed that G’ values were
bigger than those of G’’ (G’>G’’) at the entire range of the LVR, which
5
Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications 2 (2021) 100162
Fig. 3. Mechanical spectra of ricotta cheese strain= 0.5% (G’, solid; G’’, empty
symbols): (a) without any hydrocolloids at different temperatures; (b) Complex
viscosity at different temperatures, (c) at different levels of gelatin and guar
gum (G’, solid; G’’, empty symbols).
can be related to the interconnected gel-like network structures with
mainly elastic behavior. Furthermore, the hydrocolloid addition to the
ricotta cheese reduced one order of magnitude the G’ and G’’. As a
result, hydrocolloid addition to ricotta cheese had a significant effect on
its rheological properties. Increasing temperature from 25 to 60 ◦ C, the
G’, G’’ and G* were decreased. The utmost structural strength (G’) was
M.A. Hesarinejad et al.
obtained for the ricotta cheese without any hydrocolloids at 25 ◦ C. The
highest fracture stress was obtained from ricotta cheese containing 5%
gelatin-1% guar gum and revealed the highest intermolecular interac­
tion between hydrocolloids and ricotta components. Since the highest
value of yield and fracture stress occurred in 5% of gelatin-1% guar gum,
it can be ascribed that the elastic modulus alone is insufficient to char­
acterize gel systems without obtaining yield and fracture properties. It is
necessary to mention that the hydrocolloids inclusion in the ricotta
cheese contributed to the water retention through the role of hydroxyl
groups of hydrocolloids in water absorption and therefore, a softer and
less elastic cheese than control was produced. Thus, the weaker gel
structure of ricotta cheese with hydrocolloids might be related to the
moisture content achieved by the secondary effect of the presence of the
hydrocolloid in the formula. In addition, the mixing of gelatin with other
hydrocolloids does not always improve the gel strength, and in some
cases, such as ricotta cheese, the use of hydrocolloids does not produce a
high strength gel and make the structure and texture stronger. In reality,
binary mixture showed different behavior based on the ingredients in
the complex foods.
Ethical statements
The authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest, and
the study does not involve any human or animal testing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Mahrad Chashni Co., for their
financial and commercial support during the project.
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