Drying kinetics, microstructure, and texture of cheese cracker fillings

Abstract

The hot air drying process for cheese cracker fillings was assessed. Fillings with sheep-milk cheese and corn starch were prepared. Sodium alginate, carrageenan, locust bean, and xanthan gum were employed in order to obtain fillings with different structures and properties to study their behavior during the drying process. Drying curves were modeled by applying a diffusional model to determine the hot-air drying kinetic parameters. The structures of the fillings before and after cooking, and after drying were analyzed by confocal laser microscopy, and their texture was measured at these same times. The selected model proved to be suitable to represent the thin-layer drying characteristics of cheese cracker fillings. The cheese fillings with carrageenan showed the highest drying rate, great hardness, and a low adhesiveness at the end of drying. The sodium alginate cheese fillings exhibited the lowest drying rate, high hardness and gumminess, preserving a certain degree of adhesiveness at the end of drying. The cheese fillings with locust bean and xanthan gum presented an intermediate drying rate and a moderate increase in hardness and gumminess. Results showed the relationships among kinetics, microstructure, and texture parameters in the hot air drying process of cheese cracker fillings.