ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Food Science Technology
This article is part of the Research TopicRheological Properties of Functional and Future FoodsView all 5 articles
Effect of type and concentration of hydrocolloids on the rheology, water mobility and 3D printing properties of pitaya fruit-based ink
Provisionally accepted
Jacob Ojobi OmediCheng Chen
Jiangnan UniversityShuning Zhang
Li LiangQibo Zou
Yan Xu
Min ZhangYuchuan Wang
Weining Huang*- Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
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In this study, the effects of three hydrocolloids, xanthan gum (XG), arabica gum (AG) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), at two concentrations on the rheological, water mobility and 3D printing characteristics of pitaya fruit-based inks were investigated. The results showed that hydrocolloids restricted water mobility by increasing the immobilized water (T22) with higher content in CMC (97.58-98.01%), AG (96.28-97.26%) and XG (95.35-95.38%), at 9g/100g than 6g/100g hydrocolloid concentration in the hydrocolloid-fruit inks. The rheological properties, based on the apparent viscosity, G´ and G´´ were increased in the pitaya fruit inks, especially in presence of CMC, then AG and XG at higher than lower concentration. Moreover, the printing precision improved, while the textural profile based on hardness and resilience increased, adhesiveness and springiness decreased, and influenced the color profiles in the hydrocolloid-fruit ink printed objects containing XG, then CMC and AG at 9g/100g than 6g/100g concentration. These changes were attributed to the increased water holding capacity in presence of different hydrocolloids at higher concentrations which reduced water mobility, slow water molecules re-orientation, and increased pseudoplastic and solid-like (G´ higher than G´´) character in the hydrocolloid-fruit inks: this could have led to the better retention of the 3D printed structure. The results presented demonstrated the influence of different types of hydrocolloids at varying concentrations on altering the physicochemical and technological properties of high moisture content fruit substrate-based inks for 3D food printing applications. In addition, these findings pave the way for further studies on the development of natural and health-promoting fruit substrate-based 3D printed snack food products.
Keywords: 3D printing, Hydrocolloids, Pitaya fruit, Rheological properties, Textural profile, Water mobility
Received: 18 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Omedi, Chen, University, Zhang, Liang, Zou, Xu, Zhang, Wang and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Weining Huang
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