Study of the Influence of Selected Carrageenan Fractions on the Physical Properties and Crystal Structure of Mango Sorbet.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the iota, kappa and lambda carrageenan fractions on the physical properties and crystal structure of a fruit sorbet prepared from frozen mango fruits. During this study, physical properties such as density, cryoscopic temperature, osmotic pressure, overrun and melting time were analyzed. In order to assess the crystal structure and its changes, microscope images were taken of each sample after 1, 30 and 90 days of storage. The stabilizers showed no significant effect on the physical properties of the ice cream mixture; however, the sample with iota carrageenan stood out for having the highest overrun (58.7%) and the sample with kappa carrageenan took the longest to melt of all tested samples (almost 21 min). This study shows a significant effect of carrageenans in reducing the initial size of ice crystals as well as reducing recrystallization during storage. The stabilizing blend using ι-carrageenan provided the most effective cryoprotective properties, with an ice crystal diameter of 9 µm.