A preliminary study on the application of natural sweet proteins in agar-based gels

Natural sweet proteins may be used as sugar replacer in simple liquid food systems but their applicability in more complex matrices has not been investigated yet. Gelling agent nature and texture characteristics as well as type and distribution of a stimulus in a gel could affect taste perception through inhibition or enhancement of tastants migration to the receptors. The mechanical, nonoral texture and time-intensity sweetness characteristics of sweet proteins MNEI and super sweet Y65R mutant, aspartame and saccharin added at a concentration iso-sweet to 40 g/L of sucrose in three agar gel concentrations (1%, 1.5%, and 2%) were evaluated. The results have shown that agar concentration and agar sweetener interaction particularly affect mechanical fracture stress and non oral hardness of the sweetened gels. Time intensity results illustrated that unlike in solution, the intensity of sweet taste in a gelled system over time decreases. Indeed, the behavior of the sweet proteins differed greatly in the gelled system compared to when they are in solution.