- Overview
- Application
Basic Info.
Product Description
What is Polyglycerol Esters?
In addition to promoting heart health, some phytosterols have strong anticancer activity such as β-sitosterol (Kim et al., 2012). De novo synthesis of β-sitosterol has not yet been achieved, and thus it is commonly harvested from terrestrial grasses (e.g., saw grass).
Many phytoplankton produce β-sitosterol, but most strains also contain a range of other phytosterols. Interestingly, some diatoms and raphidophytes produce extremely high cellular levels of β-sitosterol (Table 4.2), but do not accumulate other phytosterols such as campesterol, cholesterol, and stigmasterol. Thus, focus on these organisms may be a novel production source of this important phytosterol.
The benefits of Polyglycerol Esters
Polyglycerol Esters is used mostly for its aeration and softening ability in cake- based products.
Polyglycerol Esters has several benefits, including:
Benefits In Cake Gels:In cake gels it works synergistically with distilled monoglycerides. As it is an alpha-tending emulsifier it retards the gel from turning white.
Once used in cake batter the PGE provides extra aeration and volume to the batter.
It provides a smooth texture and crumb structure to the cake and additional softness.
Benefits In Non-Dairy/Whipped Topping:Provides aeration and increases over-run.
It helps to disperse the fat every throughout the mix and provides better whiteness and more uniform creamy texture.
Provides stiffness to the topping once it is whipped.
Benefits In Margarine
Improves functional properties in the form of better organoleptic properties, stabilisation of emulsions, improved aeration.Reduces sandiness in the lipid phase and provides plasticity and elasticity that mimics the nature of butter.
In puff pastry margarine PGE improves the spread of fats in lamination culminating in better flakiness and lift of the baked product.
In cake margarine, which is used extensively by the cake making industry, the fat plays an important part in the aeration of batter. Fat with PGE performs better in reducing batter density and thereby increases volume. It also stabilises the batter and improves batch to batch uniformity.
An important application of PGEs is in cake batters with little or no content of fat and oil (i.e. batters for sponge cakes, Swiss rolls and similar types of cake formulations that are based on egg, sugar and flour and/or starch). PGEs enhance aeration and help stabilize foams. The use of PGEs makes it possible to produce sponge cakes by single stage mixing, and produce final products with a finer crumb structure and longer shelf life.1
PGEs can be used in margarines. The addition of PGEs improve the functional properties of the margarine (e.g. the organoleptic properties of spreads, stabilizing or aerating of food) in addition to the emulsification of the emulsion. PGEs are reported to improve the organolepic properties of a margarine or low-fat spread by reducing the graininess of the lipid phase to yield a plasticity and elasticity of the margarine corresponding to natural butter.4
Compared to alternative emulsifiers, such as monoglycerides, the polyglycerol ester is found to have an advantage in providing long-time stability of whipping properties, making the emulsifier an excellent choice for cake mixes.
PGEs can also be used as low fat shortening.1 They can also form emulsion systems with a high amount water, thus reducing the overall caloric content of a food product. As the α-tending emulsifier, PGEs also have the crumb softening and anti-staling effects and they also help improve cake volume in baked products. The reason is that emulsifiers can reduce the rate of starch retrogradation.
PGEs can be used in whippable emulsions and toppings. They can promote fat particle aggregation and water absorption, and help achieve increased viscosity and aeration, and reduced coalescence.
Different than monoglycerides (MGs), the α-gel structure formed by PGEs are thermodynamically more stable, which means the emulsion system formed by PGEs are more stable than that of MGs.1 Blends of PGEs and MGs are known to improve sponge cake aeration and stability with less mixing time and improved foam and emulsion stability.1
Solubility: Soluble in water, insoluble in organic solvents
Molecular weight: Typically between 200,000 and 2,000,000 Daltons
Purity: Typically greater than 95%
Viscosity: Typically between 3 and 6 centipoise (at a concentration of 2%)
Moisture content: Typically less than 10%
Ash content: Typically less than 0.5%
