Swelling and dissolution in the agar/water/sugar system

As the first step in producing gelled substances, the dissolution of agar granulate plays a key role in determining the quality of the foods produced. This paper presents results of experiments with an agar/water/sugar system. From the experimental results the dissolution process can be better understood. This temperature dependent process consists of several steps, beginnning with particle swelling followed by separation of solvate molecules into a wafer-active solvent phase.