ABSTRACT Mushrooms are used as food resource and sometimes for medicinal purposes but rarely as a thickening/gelling ingredient. Some populations use mushrooms for weight gain in malnourished babies. Utilizing food resource as a functional ingredient in food systems depends on its role in that system. Reports on the properties of mushroom as a functional ingredient is limited. Mushroom powder (2-5 g/10 mL) sample was dissolved in deionized water and mixed using a vortex mixer at room temperature (20-25°C/68-77°F). The dispersion was stored, and rheological testing was conducted using Discovery Hybrid Rheometer (DHR + TRIOS software) with a 40 mm parallel plate. Dynamic strain-sweep measurements were carried out to determine the thickening and gelling ability of mushroom powder. This occurs under linear viscoelastic phase at oscillation strain of 0.01-100% and 1 Hz. The findings of this study show that mushroom powder formed a viscous mixture at 2-4 g/10 mL and a gel at 5 g/10 mL. During heating phase (25-95°C), the gel strength (G′ = storage modulus) of the mushroom powder was about 0.6 Pa while the tan delta (a measure of gel elasticity) was 1.7. However, during cooling phase (95-25°C), the G′ (9,150 Pa) and G” (9806 Pa) increased significantly while tan delta decreased to 1. The increased G′ and G” and decreased tan δ values show that mushroom powder can form a viscous material and a gel at 5 g/10 mL. Mushroom powder can contribute functions (structure and texture) in food products, e.g., salad dressing, soups, gravies, sauces, smoothies, etc. Thus, it can serve as a thickening and gelling ingredient in food systems.
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