Studies on extraction and utilization of chia seed gel in ice cream as a stabilizer

Abstract

Chia is known as super food as it contains highly concentrated amounts of essential fatty acids, dietary fibers, vitamins and antioxidants. From the health point of view, omega-3 fatty acids (formerly expressed as n 3) are of interest because they are important constituents in the membranes of brain cells, heart muscle cells, and the rods and cones of the retina. Chia could also be a good source of gel. Chia gel is a polysaccharide based gel mainly consists of crude fiber and carbohydrate. Extracted chia seed gel has a great potential in food formulations as thickening agent, emulsifying agent and as a stabilizer. The extracted chia gel from chia seeds was analysed for proximate i.e. moisture, ash, protein, crude fiber, carbohydrate and oil. Chia gel was used to 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.4% as a stabilizer in ice cream formulation. Analysis of variance conducted on the chemical, physical and sensory characteristics indicated a statistically significant effect when utilizing chia seed gel as a stabilizer. We concluded that the use of 0.3% chia seed gel was organoleptically superior over other samples and technologically feasible in ice cream, with no significant alterations on their quality characteristics.