Deliberate processing of carrot purées entails tailored serum pectin structures

A combination of mechanical tissue disintegration techniques (i.e. blending and high pressure homogenization) and heat treatments (i.e. high and low temperature) was deliberately applied in processing carrot purées. The chemical structure of serum pectin and its influence on the consistency of the differently prepared purées were evaluated. High temperature treatment of carrot pieces prior to high pressure homogenization (HTT+ HPH) resulted in high apparent molar mass (MM) serum pectin, while the reverse order of purée preparation (HPH+HTT) generated a relatively lower MM. The exceptional high apparent MM of HTT+HPH sample is possibly related to proteins bound to pectin. The importance of the order of heat treatment and tissue disruption was also reflected in largely different carrot purée consistencies in which HTT +HPH was more consistent. Low temperature treated (LTT) carrot purées, whereby endogenous pectin methyl-esterase was stimulated, had less consistent purées and low molar mass serum pectins.status: publishe