Effect of xanthan and arabic gum on quality characteristics of Nougat sweet

Nougat is one of the Iranian traditional sweets which nowadays produced as traditional and industrial methods. Egg, is the most important ingredient in Nougat production, which is in addition of improving nutritive value, as a functional properties of proteins has a great influence on product texture. In this study, Box-Behnken design of response surface methodology was applied to survey effect of white egg content (6, 8 and 10%), xanthan gum (0, 0.1 and 0.2%) and gum arabic (0, 0.1 and 0.2%) on overrun, stability and density of the foam as well water activity, density and overall acceptability of the final product (Nougat). The results showed that using of gum had significant effect on overrun so that maximum level has been reached in the presence of 0.2% gum arabic without xanthan gum. Gum addition to Nougat mixture, increased foam stability with reduction of drainage. Water activity of treatments was increased along with hydrocolloid application but it was maintained in standard limit. The results of sensory evaluation showed that Nougats prepared with average values of both gum (0.1%), had higher acceptance. This study revealed that using hydrocolloids, improvement in the quality characteristics of Nougat is possible.