Stabilisation of the oat drink structure with natural hydrocolloids

Dietary shift towards more plant-based diet is a must and simultaneously consumers are calling for clean label solutions. Thus, there is a need for additive-free dairy alternatives. However, as colloidal systems, they tend to destabilise resulting in reduced quality. This research aimed to study the potential of natural hydrocolloids – oat β-glucan and exopolysaccharides produced by different microbial strains – as stabilisers in oat drinks.Stability of oat drink stabilised with oat β-glucan and exopolysaccharides produced by three different microbial strains was studied in comparison to both oat base without added hydrocolloids and oat drink stabilised with pectin, commonly used food additive. Both instrumental and sensory stability was studied to provide wider understanding on the underlying factors.Natural hydrocolloids successfully stabilised the oat drink structures against phase separation, and some (e.g. oat β-glucan and dextran) even better than a commonly used food additive, pectin. The stabilisation by the added hydrocolloids was often linked to the increased drink viscosity, but oat β-glucan seemed to affect through several mechanisms: viscosity, weak gel formation and interactions with proteins. The association between sensory responses and instrumentally measured viscosity varied with the applied shear rate: Viscosity at low shear rates was associated with perceived thickness, whereas viscosity at higher shear rates was linked to persistence of texture.