What Is Pectin?

What’s pectin?

Pectin is a type of structural fiber found in the primary cell wall and intracellular layer of plant cells mainly in fruits, such as apples, oranges, lemons, and so on. Citrus fruit contains 0.5%–3.5% pectin which is largely present in peel portion of the fruit. During the ripening process, pectins change to a water-soluble material (ripened fruit) from an insoluble substance (unripe fruit). On the basis of methyl esterification, there are two different types of pectin—high methoxyl and low methoxyl pectin. High methoxyl pectins are characterized with more than 50% esterified galacturonic acid residues whereas low methoxyl pectins are characterized with less than 50% esterified galacturonic acid residues .

What's the difference between gelatin and pectin?

Think of powdered pectin as gelatin's vegan cousin. Gelatin is often made from animalproducts, most commonly the collagen found in beef bones, and doesn't require heat or sugar tothicken. Pectin is typically made from apples (apple pectin) or citrus peels (citrus pectin), andoften requires heat and sugar to set. Though fruit pectin is primarily used in jam production, it'salso used in place of gelatin in other food products, like gummy candies.

Application in Fruit Beverages and Soft Drinks

Pectin is used as a viscosifier in beverages and soft drinks, and high-ester pectins may be used as a mouth-feel improver. This use has been widely developed for juice drinks with a reduced juice content or sugar-free soft drinks.

Low-concentration pectin solutions can be considered Newtonian and show a low viscosity. This is of great relevance for the use of pectin in fruit beverages and soft drinks as the concentration used rarely exceeds 0.5%. Indeed, the clean mouth feel imparted by pectin compared with the tendency towards a slimy mouth feel with some other gums could be related to the low viscosity of pectin solutions at the shear rate applied in the mouth. This property makes pectin an ideal choice when trying to replace the mouth feel lost by the reduction in sugar content.

As most juice beverages and soft drinks contain calcium, pectin with a high degree of esterification is usually recommended to minimize the calcium sensitivity of the pectin and avoid any risk of gelling. A slight gelling of the product changes the rheology of the solution, resulting in undesirable pseudoplastic behavior. For this reason, the most commonly used pectin is of the rapid setting type. Pectin manufacturers usually offer rapid-set pectins standardized to a viscosity instead of gelling properties, so as to guarantee a consistent performance in a beverage application.