Hydrocolloids have been used as multifunctional additives in food processing to improve functional properties such as viscosity, water binding capacity and emulsion stability. Hydrocolloids are of special interest because they possess good barrier property against oxygen, carbon dioxide and lipids which could reduce oil absorption during deep-fat frying.Some of the most useful hydrocolloids are cellulose derivatives such as methyl cellulose (MC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC). All these cellulose derivatives arewater soluble with good .lm-forming properties Alginate and pectin are widely used in food systemsto stabilize and to modify the rheology of food. The most useful property is gelation, which is formed by intermolecular association with polyvalent cations.
The use of hydrocolloids to decrease oil absorption in banana chips was studied. The best results were obtained from the banana chips blanched in 0.5 g CaCl2/100 ml distilled water and treated with 1 g pectin/100 ml distilled water and in 0.5 g CaCl2/100 ml distilled water and treated with 1 g CMC/100 ml distilled water, whose oil contents greatly reduced from 40.22 g/100 g sample to 22.89 and 22.91 g/100 g sample, respectively. Treating banana chips with CaCl2 and pectin or with CaCl2 and CMC resulted in similar oil absorption activity (p