Study of the structural and mechanical properties of biopolymers in order to obtain a capsule-type product

The article presents some theoretical and experimental data on promising technologies, namely, the processes of obtaining artificial food materials such as spheres or "caviar". They are derived from molecular processes: solubilization, spherification, etc. Possible applications are the food industry, the food service industry, biotechnology, and others. There are different features of obtaining artificial products based on alginates. The peculiarities of the alginate structuring are that it is possible to form a gel layer-encapsulation and gel formation over the entire thickness of the product due to the special chemical properties of the fixing salt. Based on the theory of the molecular structure of biopolymers, molecular technologies for the synthesis of artificial food products were developed, using the example of molecular "caviar". As a result of our own experiments, we obtained a satisfactory encapsulated product from a biopolymer crosslinked with Ca2+ salts in terms of organoleptic and physico-chemical properties. The colloidal biopolymer solution for forming "eggs" was characterized using the method of rotational viscometry, which showed the features of the sodium alginate solution as a structured thixotropic material, which is characterized by" difficulty " of shear at low speeds of rotation of the viscometer rotor. Further on the rheogram, such material exhibits a predicted relatively stable flow. As a result, it can be used to produce semi-finished products of a given shape and texture as a food semi-finished product or product. If the technology is refined, it is possible to use colloidal systems based on alginates and other biopolymers in biotechnology, including the cultivation of microorganisms of various taxonomic groups.