Aloe vera, at all its concentrations, increased the water holding capacity(
WHC) of the beef burgers (Fig. 2). This increasewas found to depend
on the Aloe vera concentration, rising about 8% with increasing
Aloe vera content to the highest level. Beef burgers containing 3% and
5% Aloe vera had the highest WHC while burgers without Aloe vera
and those containing 1% Aloe vera showed no significant differences.
WHC is the ability of meat to hold its own or added water during
processing. Scala et al. (2013) maintained that Aloe vera has a WHC of
about 78%. This highwater holding capacity helps to retain thewater released
from meat while it also increases the WHC of low meat burgers
with increasing Aloe vera concentration. Polysaccharides account for
the greatest portion of the dry matter of Aloe vera parenchyma
(Femenia, Garcı́a-Pascual, Simal, & Rosselló, 2003). Our findings also indicate
that the carbohydrate content of Aloe vera is high (Table 1). The
polysaccharides of Aloe vera, either alone or in interactionwith proteins,
may form a network that traps water and prevents its release.