Synergistic emulsions of Tremella fuciformis polysaccharide and sodium caseinate enable melt-resistance and inhibit ice crystals in low-fat ice cream.

Metadata-grounded summary

Citation abstract

The potential health risks of excessive fat intake have increased the demand for low-fat ice cream. However, reducing the fat content often compromises the flavor. This study used Tremella fuciformis polysaccharides (TFPS) to effectively regulate the oil-phase content, create an emulsion system, and systematically evaluate its functional characteristics as a fat substitute, focusing on environmental and fat oxidation stability. The results indicated that the introduction of TFPS significantly enhanced the thermal and freeze-thaw stability of the emulsion (p < 0.05) compared with the control group. Mechanistic assessment showed that this effect stemmed from the water-holding capacity of TFPS, as well as its hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions with sodium caseinate (SC). Rheological and microstructure analyses further confirmed that TFPS promoted the formation of a dense honeycomb structure in the gel network by increasing the viscosity and energy storage modulus (G') of the system. The optimized emulsion system was used to prepare low-fat ice cream, indicating that TFPS addition effectively increased its melt resistance rate by approximately 1.63-fold. Notably, the sensory evaluation score of the TFPS-enhanced ice cream was 138 % higher than that of the control group without TFPS. This study provides a theoretical basis and technical support for the development of low-fat ice cream that offers both health benefits and excellent sensory quality, confirming that TFPS shows considerable promise as a functional fat substitute.