Engineering

Apparent viscosity

Polymer chemistry

Materials science

Chromatography

Particle size

Chemical engineering

Polysaccharide

Whey protein

Physical chemistry

Polymer

Organic chemistry

Self-healing hydrogels

Dynamic mechanical analysis

Microstructure

Elastic modulus

Composite material

Rheology

Crystallography

Chemistry

Scanning electron microscope

Viscosity

Whey protein isolate

Food Hydrocolloids

This paper investigates the potential of composite gels, formed by the pH-treated whey protein isolation (WPI) and Mesona chinensis polysaccharides (MCP) solutions, as jelly processing ingredients. The functional, gelation properties, and microstructure of MCP-WPI gels were investigated under specific conditions (pH 4–10). The results showed that MCP and WPI can form a stable gel under the condition of pH 10, ζ-potential increased and the particle size decreased with the increase of pH. The water-holding capacity (WHC) of MCP-WPI gels was the lowest at pH 6 and the highest at pH 10. Rheological results showed that the apparent viscosity, storage modulus (G′), and loss modulus (G″) of MCP-WPI gels increased with the increase of pH. At pH 10, MCP-WPI gels had the highest creep/recovery ability. The gel strength and rupture stress of MCP-WPI gels increased significantly (P < 0.05) with the pH. The more uniform structure and finer water pores were observed with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) in higher pH conditions (pH 8 and 10), and more disordered and coarse gel networks were formed at pH 4 and pH 6. These results indicated that higher pH promoted MCP-WPI gel formation, which provided a reference for the innovation of heat-induced gel material in the medical and food industries.

Effect of acid/alkali shifting on function, gelation properties, and microstructure of Mesona chinensis polysaccharide-whey protein isolate gels