Thickness

Thickness of a food product is defined as a bulky characteristic of a product as sensed in mouth or by feeling and seeing e.g. during pouring of the product. Thickening agents, or thickeners, are substances which, when added to an aqueous mixture, increase its viscosity without substantially modifying its other properties, such as taste.

They provide body, increase stability, and improve suspension of added ingredients. Examples of thickening agents include: polysaccharides (starches, vegetable gums, and pectin), proteins (eggs, collagen, gelatin, blood albumin) and fats (butter, oil and lards).

Flour is the most popular food thickener, followed by corn-starch and arrowroot or tapioca. All of these thickeners are based on starch as the thickening agent.

Related terms

Downloads

Accelerating Fermentation Innovation

At-line milk protease testing supports production decision making and waste reduction

An integrated approach to substantiating health benefits of food

Bring new food products and ingredients to the market fast

Charting host-microbe co-metabolism in skin aging and application to metagenomics data

Cases

NIZO – PEF Technologies: Initiating a pilot for a sustainable future in food preservation

NIZO – CheeseCoat project: Novel processing technology for manufacturing low- fat mozzarella-type cheese in ready meals

NIZO – MARDI: Transforming coconut residue into value

Our latest Blogs

PERFECTING DAIRY AND MEAT ALTERNATIVES: NIZO’s integrated ‘pyramid approach’ using an innovative high-throughput screening toolbox

AI: unlocking the hidden potential of food and data

Understanding the extruder – the route to the next step in plant based?