The effect of polysaccharide blends and salts on the glass transition temperature of the monosaccharide glucose

Sugar-and acid-rich food products are difficult to dehydrate and often require the addition of a drying aid in the form of one or a blend of polysaccharides to successfully dry them. The objective of this work was to study the effect of the addition of blends of multiple soluble polysaccharides, such as highly soluble inulin, digestion resistant maltodextrin (MD) and MD dextrose equivalent (DE) 9-13 on the glass transition temperature (T-g) of the mixture with the monosaccharide glucose at zero water activity. It was demonstrated that the addition of several drying aids follows the same trend as the inclusion of only one polysaccharide. Furthermore, the impact of the addition of the salts, trisodium citrate, disodium carbonate and sodium phosphate on the T-g of glucose was tested. The results provide insights to the different mechanisms of salts and polysaccharides in raising the T-g of low molecular weight components.