Rheology and synergy of κ-carrageenan/locust bean gum/konjac glucomannan gels

Differential scanning calorimetry of the gels revealed the development of a second melting peak for the KC/KGM gels that increased with KGM addition up to higher KGM contents than the stoichiometric ratio. For the KC/LBG gels, only a slight broadening and shift to a higher temperature were observed. When the three polysaccharides were mixed, the DSC endotherms reflected only the main features of the interaction between KC and KGM, and the same was true for the fracture in extension. The different trends led to higher Young's moduli at intermediate KC concentrations when a 1:1 addition of LBG:KGM was used than when either only KGM or LBG was added at a fixed total polysaccharide concentration. This suggests that no special interactions arise when the three polysaccharides are mixed and the binding mechanisms are simply a sum of the bindings observed for KC/KGM and KC/LBG two-component gels.