Cooking Innovations ― Using Hydrocolloids for Thickening, Gelling, and Emulsification

Hydrocolloids are among the most commonly used ingredients in the food industry. They function as thickeners, gelling agents, texturizers, stabilizers, and emulsifiers. They also have applications in the areas of edible coatings and flavor release. Thanks to molecular gastronomy, they have now been brought to the forefront of modern cuisine—available in small quantities for everyday use. While there a number of books devoted to production scale use of hydrocolloids, no book has yet addressed the needs of the chef. This volume is fully devoted to the fascinating topic of hydrocolloids and their unique applications in the kitchen.

Each chapter addresses a particular hydrocolloid, protein hydrocolloid, or protein-polysaccharide complex. Starting with a brief description of the chemical and physical nature of the item, the authors go on to explore its manufacture and biological/toxicological properties. Emphasizing practical information for the professional chef and amateur cook alike, each chapter includes recipes demonstrating that particular product's unique abilities in cooking. Several formulations have been chosen specifically for food technologists, who will be able to manipulate the product for large-scale use or as a starting point for novel industrial formulations.

Professor Amos Nussinovitch was born in Kibbutz Megiddo, Israel. He studied chemistry at the University of Tel Aviv, and food engineering and biotechnology at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He has worked as a food engineer at several companies and has been involved in a number of R&D projects in both the United States and Israel, focusing on the mechanical properties of liquids, semisolids, solids, and powders.

He is currently in the Biochemistry and Food Science Department of the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, where he leads a large group of researchers working on theoretical and practical aspects of hydrocolloids. Prof. Nussinovitch is the sole author of five books, the author or coauthor of numerous papers on hydrocolloids and on the physical properties of foods, and an inventor on many related patent applications.

Madoka Hirashima, Ph.D., was born in Kyoto, Japan. She studied the rheological properties of curdlan and cornstarch at the Graduate School of Human Life Science, Osaka City University. Dr. Hirashima worked at a food company as a new food developer, and then as a lecturer at several colleges. She is currently in Home Economics Education at the Faculty of Education, Mie University, where she teaches cooking as well as cooking science. She continues to study the rheological properties of polysaccharides, with a focus on the textures of starch and konjac products.