The level of phase separation detected by backscattering indirectly indicated the amount of non-retained water (Fig. 3), which can give an idea about the ability of the inulin particles to hold water. In order to obtain a better understanding about this property, samples were submitted to forced conditions by centrifugation. Fig. 4 illustrates the WHC results for the centrifuged samples. It can be observed that WHC is influenced by inulin concentration. Non-HPH samples showed the lowest WHC, except for 6 wt% inulin dispersions processed at 296 MPa (SCR) that retained the lowest amount of water. Regarding HPH processing, in general, the treatment significantly improved the WHC for all the tested concentrations. Nevertheless, differences among the applied pressures and the homogeniser configurations were detected. Within the 6 wt% dispersions, the structures obtained after processing at 103 and 207 MPa showed the highest WHC without significant differences between configurations. The treatment at 296 MPa with SCR of this sample did not improve WHC compared to the non-HPH treatments. Oppositely, for spontaneous sedimentation (Fig. 3), dispersions with the same inulin concentration (6 wt%) and processed at the same pressure (296 MPa) but with the LCP configuration exhibited lower water retentions than with the shortest configuration (SCR). Dispersions of 9 wt% inulin also showed the largest water retention at 207 MPa, followed by 103 MPa, when LCP configuration was used. In addition, significant differences between configurations were observed at both pressures, being the LCP configuration the one yielding the gels with highest WHC. For the SCR configuration no differences between 103 and 207 MPa were found, indicating a possible higher influence of the HC configuration over the homogenisation pressure for this concentration and HPH treatment. Processing at the maximum pressure level (296 MPa) worsened the ability to hold water similarly for both configurations. For the 12 wt% samples HPH processing at 103 and 207 MPa also yielded the best structures for water retention, showing average WHC (%) values between 75.52 and 84.20%. As for the lower inulin concentrations, the treatment at 296 MPa decreased the average WHC (%) (54.18% (SCR) and 44.24% (LCP))