Glass Transition and State Diagram for Jujube Powders With and Without Maltodextrin Addition

Both water activity and glass transition concepts were used for stability evaluation of jujube powder in this study. The water sorption behaviour at 25, 35 and 45 °C and the relationship between water content (X _w), glass transition temperature (T _g) and water activity (a _w) were investigated for jujube powder with and without the maltodextrin addition. Moisture sorption isotherms of different jujube powders were of type III and BET model was the best for fitting the experimental data. The equilibrium moisture content of jujube powder containing 20% maltodextrin at a given a _w was lower than that of pure jujube powder. However, temperature had no significant effect on the moisture sorption of jujube powders. Values of T _g of different jujube powders were obtained using differential scanning calorimetry and the glass transition line was fitted to the Gordon-Taylor model. A depression in T _g with increasing water content was observed. State diagrams of different jujube powders were established based on the moisture sorption isotherm and the glass transition curve. Results showed that jujube powders with and without maltodextrin addition were stable at 25 °C when the water content was lower than 0.0673 and 0.0566 g/g solid, respectively.