2.2. Preparation of carrageenan cubes
Semi-refined carrageenan powders or their blends were mixed
with distilled water and homogenized, and then heated in a water
bath up to 70 C. As soon as this temperature was achieved, the
mixture was thermostated for 30 min while stirring using a CAT
R50 mechanical stirrer (Ballrechten-Dottingen, Germany). The
resulting gel was poured onto a stainless steel tray, heated to
70e80 C in a convection oven, and allowed to cool at ambient
temperature (20e22 C). Cubes of 5 mm size were cut out from the
solidified gel using a using a tool comprising two parallel knife
blades with a distance of 5 mm. The drying process was carried out
for cubes of carrageenan gel containing the ingredients presented
in Table 1.