Texture and structure of pressure-shift-frozen agar gel with high visco-elasticity

To determine the effects of sucrose and high-pressure-freezing, two kinds of agar gel were compared; A gel with high visco-elasticity and B gel, an ordinary dessert gel. Both agar gels with 0, 5, 10 or 20% sucrose were frozen at 0.1–686 MPa and −20 °C. They were frozen during pressurization, and exothermic peaks were detected at 0.1, 100, 600 and 686 MPa and −20 °C (freezing). However, at 200 MPa, they did not freeze but froze with released pressure (pressure-shift-freezing). Thus, the amount of syneresis from gel pressure-shift-frozen at 200 MPa was smaller than that from gel frozen at other pressures. Also, amount of syneresis from A was smaller than B. In addition, compared to control gels, the appearance of 0% sucrose–agar gels frozen at 0.1, 100, 600 and 686 MPa differed greatly due to syneresis and a volumetric shrinkage of the gel. It was apparent that the rupture stress of the gels decreased, strain and size of ice crystals increased and quality declined. Conversely, due to quick freezing, the texture and structure of both A and B pressure-shift-frozen at 200 MPa were better than the other pressure-treated gels and gels frozen in freezers (−20, −30 or −80 °C) at atmospheric pressure. Consequently, pressure-shift-freezing was more effective. However, texture, structure and syneresis of A were somewhat better than that of B. It was found that the addition of sucrose to the gel was effective in improving the quality of frozen agar gels.